


(With the Exception of You) I Dislike Everyone in the Room

by J (j_writes)



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Additional Secondary Pairings Mentioned in Notes, Canon-Typical Violence, Fake AH Crew, Female Jack, GTA AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-12
Updated: 2015-04-12
Packaged: 2018-03-22 12:53:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3729670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/j_writes/pseuds/J
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Hey, deal was that I'd suck your dick," Ray pointed out.  "I don't remember anything in the contract about trusting you."</p>
            </blockquote>





	(With the Exception of You) I Dislike Everyone in the Room

**Author's Note:**

> [fictional characters based on the internet personas of actual people, doing entirely fictional things. I do not give permission for this work or any of my others to be used in Rooster Teeth content.]
> 
> Set in the [Fake AH Life](http://thebeatneverleaves.tumblr.com/fakeahlife) universe. Pre-OT6, contains additional mentions or implications of Ray Narvaez Jr./Michael Jones, Geoff Ramsey/Michael Jones, Geoff Ramsey/Jack Pattillo, Geoff Ramsey/Jack Pattillo/Michael Jones/Gavin Free, and Ryan Haywood/Lindsay Tuggey Jones.
> 
> (About 98% of this was written prior to Ray quitting - he's never been a starring character in this universe before, and I didn't really have any plans to have him be again, but he'll probably stick around, at least for the time being, since that's kind of what AUs are for, right?)

"Hey, Jack?" Ryan said as he pulled onto the abandoned property, kicking up a cloud of dust behind him. "You can call off the troops. He's here."

"Tell him I'm going to fucking rip his balls off, would you?" she replied, and he grinned, skidding into the spot beside Geoff's car and narrowly missing it. 

"Will do," he assured her, and hung up. It was warm and windy as he stepped out of the car, and he was glad for the mask keeping most of the dust out of his eyes. Geoff was out in the field, a line of bottles propped up in front of him, peering down the scope of a sniper rifle. He didn't look up as Ryan made his way over to him, but his shot went wildly off the mark, sending up a puff of dirt beyond his target. 

He swore under his breath and straightened up, gesturing at the rifle like an offer. "How's your sniping?"

Ryan shrugged and didn't step forward. "Passable," he said. "If there's someone you'd like taken out, there are probably better ways for me to do it."

"I'm thinking of bringing in a guy."

"Great," Ryan said dryly. "Although it might be a good idea to let the guys you already have know that you made it out of this one first."

"Oh." Geoff shrugged. "My phone got shot."

Ryan blinked at him. "Your phone," he repeated. "Got _shot_." Geoff turned around and pointed to his butt, and sure enough, there was a clean slice right across the back pocket of his pants, bright blue underwear showing through. Ryan's eyebrows shot up. "Huh. No shit."

"Which," Geoff continued, "is the kind of thing that probably wouldn't have happened if we had a guy on the roof next door."

"So you're thinking of bringing someone in," Ryan said. 

"Got it in one." 

"Anyone in particular, or…?"

Geoff shrugged. "Lindsay suggested a guy. Think it's a good idea?"

Ryan blinked behind the mask. "You're asking my opinion?"

"Well, I already know Jack's. We'd have hired on like eight people by now if she had her way."

"She's thrilled that she hasn't heard from you, by the way." 

"Yeah, I bet. And yes, I'm asking your opinion. Is that one of the services you offer, or are you just capable of standing around being creepy as fuck and taking people out in spectacularly disturbing ways?"

Ryan shrugged. "I occasionally have an opinion or two, sure, but without knowing anything about this guy, it's hard to say. Bring him in on a job, see how he does."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking."

Ryan fished into his pocket and pulled out his phone, tossing it at Geoff, who fumbled, but narrowly kept it from hitting the ground. "Call Jack," he said. "Be sure to tell her about how you almost got shot in the ass. She'll appreciate that."

Geoff grinned. "I'm gonna fucking wear these pants into the ground," he said. "Almost shot in the ass, you believe that shit?"

"Your phone should get a fucking medal," Ryan said dryly, and bent over to peer through the scope of Geoff's rifle at his bottles as Geoff pressed the phone to his ear behind him.

"Hey, Jack?" He turned away, breathing out a laugh into his moustache. "No, everything's fine…" He wandered off toward the cars, and Ryan sighted in on one of the bottles, pulling the trigger and smiling behind his mask as it shattered.  
_______________

He leaned against the back of Jack's seat, peering over her shoulder through the window as the new guy retrieved his gun from the back of Geoff's car. It was bright pink, and he was small, young, dark-haired, with glasses that made him look anything but intimidating. 

"Christ," Jack muttered under her breath. "I feel like I should be getting a permission slip just to take him up in the air. What is he, like fourteen?"

Ryan grinned. "Feeling old?"

"Fucking ancient, thanks."

Ryan clapped her on the shoulder and boosted himself out of the door, landing heavily in the dirt and crossing to Geoff and the new guy.

Geoff waved a hand between them carelessly. "Brownman, Vagabond. Vagabond, Brownman. Try not to take each other out before the job's finished, would you?" He hesitated. "But if you decide to do it before we split the take, that's your business." He turned off towards the chopper, yelling something indistinct at Jack, and Ryan turned to find Brownman sizing him up, looking thoroughly unimpressed.

"Ray," he offered eventually with a nod instead of a handshake, which was probably for the best, because he looked like Ryan could probably snap his hand into pieces without even trying, and Geoff was paying good money for those. "You got a name, or do you prefer something like Your Highness?" Ryan looked at him impassively until he added, "Yeah, I've heard a story or two about the Mad King."

"'Sire' will do," Ryan replied dryly. 

"Oh good," Ray said, sounding thoroughly unamused. "You're funny." He looked Ryan over. "Is the mask part of the comedy act, or are you just ugly as fuck?"

"What, it can't be both?" Ryan asked.

"Ryan!" Geoff was hanging out of the door of the chopper. "Are you two gonna join us, or did we hire you to stand there with your dicks flapping?"

Ray carefully patted down the front of his pants and gave Ryan an elaborate shrug, and Ryan was glad for the mask, because he couldn't help grinning at his innocent expression. "Not me," Ray said. "Must be you with the flapping dick. Ryan." He hitched his gun up and turned for the helicopter, and Ryan followed, meeting Geoff at the door as Ray stepped into the cockpit to greet Jack.

"So this is gonna be fun," Geoff said under his breath, and Ryan laughed.

"You sure know how to pick 'em," he agreed, and settled in for takeoff.  
______________

The first job went well, and the second went better. The third was a complete disaster, but that was because of bad intel and a spectacular fuckup on Kerry's part, and even with everything blowing up in their faces, they made it to the meeting point alive and unharmed, Ryan tearing through the streets of Los Santos on a bike with Ray perched easily on the back, one arm slung around Ryan, the other wielding a gun with deadly accuracy.

"Damn," Ryan said appreciatively as he skidded into the alley behind the safehouse, and Ray leapt off the back of the bike, tucking his gun away. 

"Eagle Eye Narvaez, they call me," he said dryly, tapping the edge of his glasses. 

Ryan inspected them. "You don't have any assistive tech in there, do you?" 

"Nope. You're just going to have to accept that I'm better than you," he said.

"Oh, I've already accepted that," Ryan assured him, and saw a brief flicker of surprise cross Ray's face. "I'm just saying, if this is you naturally, I could probably cook up some decent enhancements if I ever get some lab space."

"So you're a tech guy," Ray said. 

"I multitask," Ryan said. "But sure, yeah, tech's one of my things."

Ray pulled off his glasses and looked at them speculatively. "Sweet," he said flatly, and settled them back on his face before jumping to pull himself up onto the fire escape. He looked down at Ryan for a long moment, and the smile he gave him before he disappeared into the window looked almost genuine.  
______________

"Come _on_ ," Geoff insisted, leaning heavily against Ray's shoulder. "It's your last night in town, let me buy you a drink. A beer? Something cheap and watered down?"

Ray shook his head and pushed Geoff's arm off of him. "Thanks, man," he said, "but buy it for someone who'd appreciate it." 

Geoff immediately turned to drape himself over Jack instead. "Jack, let me buy you Ray's drink."

Jack glanced over at Ray before she nodded, pressing a quick kiss to the side of Geoff's head. "Sure," she said, "beer me." She waited for him to disappear toward the bar before she leaned over towards Ray. "I'd say he'll catch on eventually," she said, "but he probably never will. He still hasn't stopped trying to buy Ryan drinks."

Ryan shrugged. "I think I've had one or two beers around him, and confused him irreparably. Now he's constantly convinced that tonight is going to be the night he meets Drunk Ryan."

Ray raised his eyebrows. "Is it?"

Ryan held up his glass. "Well, this is water, so it's not looking good."

"I don't know." Ray clinked his Coke against it. "It's looking all right." He raked his eyes over Ryan suggestively, and Jack laughed.

"Yeah, the creepy skull face really does it for you, huh?" she asked.

"Hot," Ray said dryly.

They stayed for another round, and by the end of it, Geoff had his arm draped across the back of the booth, his fingers against Jack's neck, curling in her hair, and she was starting to look vaguely unfocused, her eyes darting over towards him a little more often than usual. They were casually affectionate with each other in a way that it had taken Ryan months to see, and he found himself wondering if they felt particularly comfortable around Ray, or if it was an effect of the drinks, or some combination of the two.

"Yeah, I'm gonna – " Ray said, pushing back from the table. He stuck out a hand towards Geoff. "Thanks, man. I don't know what you've got coming up, but if you need someone a little more competent than these two jackasses at your back, you know how to reach me." 

"Hey, now," Jack objected, and Ray shrugged. 

"Just saying." He let Jack pull him into a hug, though, smiling tolerantly.

He nodded toward Ryan. "Vagabond," he said. 

"Brownman," Ryan replied, returning the nod.

"Would you look at that," Geoff said cheerfully. "Everyone made it to the end alive." He held his hand out to Jack. "Pay up, Pattillo."

She grumbled as she reached for her wallet, and Ray and Ryan exchanged a look. "Of course they did," Ray said dryly, and Ryan laughed.

"Yeah," he agreed.

"Hey," Ray said in an undertone as Geoff and Jack bickered over whether Jack footing the bill for the drinks knocked money off the bet or not. "You ever find yourself in Liberty City needing some backup - " he waved a hand. "You know."

Ryan smiled under his mask. "I try not to find myself in Liberty City," he replied, "but I'll keep it in mind."

Ray nodded and clapped him on the shoulder before heading for the door, pulling up his hood and blending seamlessly into the crowd on the sidewalk the second he stepped outside.  
______________

"You're going to want to take a look at this, boss," Ryan said quietly, leaning down to Geoff's ear, interrupting the instructions he was outlining to Kerry and Caleb. Geoff broke off to look at him, and Ryan nodded toward the window.

"One second, boys," Geoff said, and followed Ryan across the room. "We don't have a lot of time to dick around here, Ryan," he pointed out.

"No," Ryan agreed, "but this is less dicking around and more me telling you that we've got a sniper on top of the bank. Is that the kind of thing you'd like me to take care of _before_ we all bust in there?"

"Oh, he's one of ours," Geoff said.

Ryan raised his eyebrows. "Could have warned us," he pointed out.

"Where's the fun in that?" Geoff activated his earpiece. "Say hi to Ryan, Brownman." The figure on the bank turned toward them and saluted, and Geoff laughed at whatever Ray said in reply. "Is that how you say hello where you're from? Fuck, no wonder your city's a disaster area."

He nodded toward the tangle of tech on a nearby table. "Go get the kids geared up," he said. "We're rolling out in five."

"This going to be a regular thing?" Ryan asked. 

"What, you think I should ask him to go steady?" Geoff asked. "I don't think that's really how he operates." He bumped his shoulder against Ryan's. "Like some other mercs I could name."

"No you couldn't," Ryan pointed out, and Geoff grinned in reply.

"Ryan...Seacrest," he said. "Ryan Gosling. Ryan Stiles. Jeri Ryan. I'll get it one of these days."

Ryan laughed and crossed the room to check Caleb's gear, and as they rolled up to the bank later on, he found that he was oddly reassured to see the flash of a bright pink gun above them.  
______________

The next time Ray came to town, Ryan had contact with him only over his earpiece, and the time after that, it was for a small operation that Geoff didn't call him in on at all. It was a couple of months later when he answered his phone late one night to hear Geoff sounding clipped and frustrated on the other end of the line.

"Look," he said after explaining the situation, "I get that this isn't really your thing, but I've got Jack tied up in some real shit with our front business, and Lindsay's crew's got some trouble going down on their end of town, and Miles has Kerry on loan for who even knows how long - "

"Hey, I can stakeout," Ryan assured him. "I can stake the hell out of something, just point me at it."

"We've had Ray over there for a couple of days and we've been trying to shift him out occasionally, but - " 

"Say no more," Ryan said. "I'm on it."

Geoff was silent for a long moment, and when he spoke again, he sounded more exhausted than Ryan had ever heard him. "Thanks, man."

Ray was crouched on the rooftop when Ryan got there, a hat pulled down low over his glasses, curled up small and inconspicuous, peering through his scope down toward the street. He didn't turn as Ryan settled in beside him, but he said, "Vagabond," like a statement of fact rather than a greeting.

"You're back in town."

"You're observant."

"Geoff didn't mention he was bringing you in."

"Guess that answers the question of whether you've made it to the A List yet."

"Jack's the A List all on her own," Ryan replied. "I don't think it will be expanding anytime soon. I'm not sure that Geoff is even looking to put together a crew."

"He should be," Ray said.

"Yeah," Ryan agreed. "He sounded pretty wrecked on the phone tonight."

"If he doesn't start expanding soon, Jack's just going to go ahead and do it for him."

Ryan raised his eyebrows. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. You know anyone in Liberty City?"

Ryan shrugged. "A few people."

"Any explosives guys?"

"No, I don't think so. You need one? I think Geoff and Jack were trying to bring one in before they picked me up."

Ray fell quiet for a moment. "No," he said finally. "I don't need one. But they're trying. Trust me on this one."

Ryan grinned, looking at Ray sideways from under the mask. "Trust you. Right. That's likely."

Ray snorted. "Okay, yeah, I probably deserve that." He set his scope aside and leaned back. "I don't know, have you thought about it? What you'd say, if they wanted you?"

Ryan shrugged. "No," he lied. "They've never been under any misconception that I'm looking for a crew. And even if they're looking to expand, they're not looking for _me_."

"It's cute that you think they don't have you already," Ray said.

Ryan shrugged. "We fool around, it's not exclusive," he said suggestively, just to see the corner of Ray's mouth twitch upward. 

He stuffed the scope into Ryan's hands instead of answering. "Here," he said. "I'm gonna go home and fucking pass out. I'll be back in a few hours. Call me if shit goes down."

"Roger that." He eyed Ray. "So you've got a place here."

"Yeah, and?"

Ryan shrugged. "Sounds like a lot of commitment."

"It's not exclusive," Ray said dryly, and dropped onto the fire escape with a wave in Ryan's direction.  
______________

He could hear Ray letting out a steady stream of curses in his ear as he emptied the register into his bag. "You fucking jerking off in there or what, man?" he asked, sounding out of breath, and Ryan took one glance over his shoulder to make sure the clerk was in no position to retaliate before turning his back on him.

"On my way," he replied, and exited the store into a storm of machine gun fire. Ray already had the car moving before he managed to get in, and his leap into the seat was heavy and undignified, the door nearly slamming shut on his foot as Ray wheeled around, tires screeching across the pavement. 

"Took you long enough," Ray said, and Ryan ignored him, propping himself out the window to shoot out the tires of the nearest cop car, and the gas tank of one further back, sending it up in flames that he could feel on his face as Ray steered them away. 

"On the move," he said into his comm, and Jack's reply was indistinct with static.

"Yeah, lucky you," she said, her voice clipped. "We ran into some...complications."

"Going to need backup?" Ray asked, reaching for the nav screen, but Jack replied before he could reprogram it.

"Negative, stick to the plan. We'll see you at the meeting point." There was a burst of static gunfire. "We just might be a while."

"On it," Ray replied, and Jack signed off. The sound of sirens and helicopter rotors grew louder behind them, and Ray glanced over at Ryan. "You going to take care of those guys, or...?"

"Just letting them get in range," Ryan said calmly, watching the chopper gain on them in his rearview mirror.

"This is how you have fun, isn't it?"

Ryan almost wished he wasn't wearing the mask so Ray could see the way he grinned back at him. "What, this isn't fun to you?"

Ray didn't reply, but he looked like he was struggling to hide a smile as he kept his eyes on the road.

The chopper lost them in the mountains, careening into a cliff as they took a sharp turn, and the rest of the drive was oddly peaceful, Ray rolling down the windows and turning on the radio, the sun just beginning to set as they pulled onto a plot of abandoned land and Ray killed the engine. He bounced out of the vehicle like he still expected someone to come roaring up the winding road behind them on their tail, but the only sound was the light rustle of the leaves above them in the breeze. Ryan stepped out after him, stretching, and leaned back against the hood of the car to watch Ray pace restlessly.

"Hey," he said finally. "Chill."

Ray shot him a glare. "We should go back."

Ryan shook his head. "You heard Jack," he said. "She and Geoff know how to read a situation. If they needed us, they'd let us know."

Ray huffed skeptically. "Yeah, but – "

"Ray." Ryan shot a hand out to grab him as he passed, and Ray froze immediately at the firm grip of Ryan's hand against his shoulder. "They're fine."

"Yeah. Sure. I know." He looked at Ryan sharply like he wanted to wrench his shoulder away, but he stayed there in front of him instead, going still, his restless hands dropping to his sides. "I know," he repeated quietly. "I'm just…"

"Worried?" Ryan prodded, a tiny smile pulling at his lips.

Ray looked at him steadily. "In need of distraction," he said, and went limp under Ryan's hand, dropping smoothly to his knees. Ryan's hand fell with him, landing lightly against the curve of Ray's neck, and he drew in a sharp breath at the sight of him looking up at Ryan along the line of his body, his hands reaching to slide up Ryan's thighs, glasses glinting in the low light.

"Um," Ryan said articulately, and Ray smirked. 

"Yeah?" he asked, hooking his fingers into the waistband of Ryan's jeans, and Ryan suddenly couldn't take his eyes off Ray's lips, the way his tongue darted out over them deliberately, his teeth catching the lower one as he looked up, casual and inviting, like he'd just shrug and push back, saying _your loss, man_ if Ryan turned him down. 

He didn't want to turn him down.

"Yeah," he choked out, and the grin Ray gave him was brief and dazzling before his fingers went to the button of Ryan's pants, undoing it, pushing them down just far enough to get his hand inside, pull out Ryan's cock, which was just starting to get interested. "Ray," he said, quiet, like a warning, like _this is so fucking stupid_ and _now? here?_ , and _yes, fuck, please_ all rolled into one, and Ray's eyes flickered up to meet his.

"Hey," he said, "don't make it weird, man," and he leaned in to take Ryan in his mouth.

Ryan groaned quietly at the contact, his body still catching up to the feeling of Ray's lips wrapping warm around him, his fingers digging into Ryan's thighs, bracing him against the car. Ryan kept his hand against Ray's shoulder, resting there lightly at first, but then gripping tighter as he slowly got hard in Ray's mouth. Ray pulled back far enough to make a low encouraging noise, then ducked back down, and Ryan let his fingers go tighter, pressing his other hand flat to the hood of the car, holding himself up.

His breath was hot and echoing inside the mask, and he suddenly realized how deeply weird it was, Ray kneeling in front of him, sucking him off with it still on, so he released Ray's shoulder to reach up and tug at the edge of it, but Ray pulled back at the motion. 

"Nah, don't bother," he said. "I'm gonna guess this isn't going to take very long."

Ryan opened his mouth to make some comment on Ray having one hell of a high opinion of himself, but Ray leaned back in to suck him into his mouth, fast and hot and messy, and he ended up letting out a low shaky breath instead. He was pretty sure it wasn't possible to smirk with a dick in your mouth, but if it had been, Ray would be doing it just then. He let his hand drop to Ray's head lightly, pressing to the fabric of his hat, part of him wanting to wrap around the back of his head, see if he could fuck the imaginary smirk off his face, but Ray did something incredible with his tongue, and it was all Ryan could do to gasp out his name warningly and give a sharp tug on the hat. Ray didn't pull back, his fingers sinking tight into Ryan's thighs and taking him even deeper, and Ryan's hips jerked helplessly against the car as he came down Ray's throat.

Ray pulled off with a messy sound, swiping the back of his glove over his mouth, and rocked back on his heels. "Yeah," he said, his voice hoarse but smug, "thought so."

Ryan let out a low noise that wasn't quite a laugh and tucked himself back into his pants one-handed, reaching for Ray, letting his thumb trace over his lips. "Okay," he allowed, "you're not bad with that thing." Ray sucked his thumb into his mouth, and Ryan smirked. "My turn."

"Nah." Ray ducked away and popped up to his feet, spinning toward the driveway to check that they were still alone. "You can owe me one."

Ryan frowned at him. "I don't like owing people things."

"Yeah, well. _I_ don't like getting off in front of my boss. Personal preference." He waved a hand at the winding dirt road behind them. "Geoff and Jack could show up any minute, and that was fun and all, but – " he shrugged. "Some other time, yeah?"

"Yeah," Ryan agreed, and was faintly surprised by how genuine the regret in his voice was. He suddenly wanted nothing more than to make Ray fall apart under his hands and mouth, to get him into a bed and turn him into a writhing, panting mess who couldn't string two snarky words together. 

There was a burst of static from the comm, and they both winced. "Jack?" Ryan asked, pushing off the car and turning away, pressing a hand to his ear, and Jack's reply was swallowed up in an indistinct rush of sound. "I can't – " Ryan began, but Ray cut him off. 

"Ryan?" he called from the head of the driveway. "I think they're headed this way." He paused. "And they're not alone."

Ryan cursed under his breath and reached into the car for their guns, tossing Ray's in his direction. Ray caught it one-handed and ducked behind a tree, peering down the pass. Ryan popped the trunk and pulled out a rocket launcher. Ray gave him an approving nod over his shoulder, and just like that, they were back in business again, Ryan dropping into place opposite Ray, Geoff's car sending up a cloud of dust as he raced up the hill toward them.  
______________

He settled the debt in a bar bathroom, his chest pressing to Ray's back, hard in his pants as Ray's ass ground back against him while Ryan jerked him off too slowly, his thumb tracing lightly over the head of his cock, the palm of his other hand pressed over Ray's against the wall, holding it there, keeping him from reaching for himself. Ray shook and gasped, but he didn't beg, didn't even ask, just let his head drop forward between his hands and held himself there like it was a challenge, like he was going to fucking make Ryan _work_ to get him off. He did, eventually, wanting to feel the way Ray's hips stuttered against him as he came with Ryan's hand moving slick and fast over his dick, and when Ray dropped down into the booth next to him a few minutes later, it was too close, their bodies pressing together from their ankles to their shoulders, his eyes flickering downward like an answering challenge.

It went on like that, stolen messy moments in alleys and stairwells, fueled by adrenaline and exhaustion, pressed against closed doors with their sounds muffled against the shoulders of each other's jackets or their own hands. 

"We could stop," Ray said one night, parked on a hill above the city in a stolen car with his hands on Ryan's belt, "if you want."

"No," Ryan said, the word catching in his throat. "I don't."

"Yeah," Ray agreed, "me neither," and they both came with Ryan's hand wrapped around them, the city lights from below them fading to a blur over Ray's shoulder as he rocked down into Ryan's lap, his gasps harsh and frantic against Ryan's neck.  
______________

It was late, dark, and the silhouette perched on the railing of his porch was hunched and familiar. Ryan slowed a few paces, part of him wanting to turn down another street, pretend that he hadn't been headed there at all, but Ray was already unfolding, hopping down to greet him. "What?" he asked as Ryan approached, and the porch light caught his glasses, making them flash in the darkness. "You don't feel like inviting me in?" Ryan stepped onto the porch, resettling his bag of supplies on his shoulder and looking down at Ray steadily. "I mean, I already know where you live," Ray pointed out. "So the chances of me killing you in your sleep have been exponentially increased for the past – oh, that's right, you don't actually know how long."

Ryan breathed out a laugh. "You have a point."

"I know," Ray said. He leaned against the railing in a way that wasn't quite crowding Ryan, but had nothing in common with backing off, either.

"Well then," Ryan said, opening the door with a flourish. "Come on in. I'd offer you a drink, but. Well."

Ray followed him upstairs, and paused on the third floor landing by Ryan's door without prompting. Ryan eyed him critically, and he just shrugged, leaning against the wall, waiting. He looked tired, and when Ryan fumbled the key slightly in the lock, he didn't make any smartass comments, just trailed quietly into the apartment behind him. Ryan stashed his bag in the hall closet and hit the lights, watching as Ray looked around with interest, pacing into the living room and then pausing, looking faintly lost.

"Hey," Ryan said quietly, faintly embarrassed by the concern that crept into his voice. "Not that this isn't a nice surprise and all, but what – "

"I might be…not around," Ray interrupted. He paused for a moment before adding, "You know, for a while."

"Oh." There was a gravity to the words that made Ryan say lightly, "Going on vacation?" just to see Ray's mouth twist in a wry smile.

"Sure, yeah, tropical beaches, going to come back all tanned and shit," he said. He leaned heavily against the frame of the patio door and let his forehead tip against it, his eyes sliding closed behind his glasses. "I've got…something to take care of." The way he said it left Ryan with the impression that he meant _someone_ rather than _something_ , and he was struck again by how little he knew about him, about any of them.

"Good luck," he said to fill the silence, and he saw Ray's shoulders shake in a quiet laugh.

"Yeah, thanks, man." His voice was low, dull and oddly unfamiliar.

"Does Geoff know? That you'll be...unavailable." 

Ray shook his head. "You going to tell him?"

Ryan shrugged. "I don't work for Geoff."

Ray laughed harshly. "Good one."

"I _do_ work for Geoff," Ryan said. "I don't _work_ for him."

"Sure," Ray said dully.

"Look, as far as he's concerned, I've never seen you off a job. Well," he added after a moment, "except for out at the bar with him and Jack, I guess."

Ray's eyes narrowed at him. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Ray nodded gratefully and turned back to the window. They were silent for a long while until Ryan said, "Hey," quietly, and Ray didn’t turn. "Do you need – " he waved a hand. _Weapons, a vehicle, maybe some backup?_ " – anything?"

Ray laughed again, audible this time, and pushed back off the doorframe with an unexpected burst of strength. "No," he said. "I don't need shit from you."

"Good," Ryan said, "since don't actually have shit to give you." It earned him a thin smile.

"I just - " Ray shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I thought someone should know. And I thought Geoff and Jack..."

"Might try to stop you from doing whatever stupid thing it is that you have planned?" Ryan suggested.

"Yeah, something like that."

Ryan nodded. "I get it."

"I know." The reply was quiet, Ray's eyes dropping to look at anything but Ryan, and for the first time, Ryan felt a sudden desperate need to reach out for him, to feel him all angles and energy against him, fingers tight against his skin like he could mark a warning onto him for anything looking to hurt him. The feeling was unfamiliar but overwhelming, and when Ray's eyes caught his again there was something wild there, something not unlike what had been there that first night, against their car under the changing sky with sirens echoing in the distance. "Man, fuck this," Ray muttered under his breath, and stepped forward, right up into Ryan's space, giving Ryan a sharp backward shove toward the hallway. "You know why I'm here."

"Yeah," Ryan agreed, and he caught Ray's wrists easily, backing toward the bedroom. "I got that. C'mon." He couldn't keep the words from coming out low and oddly reassuring, like there was some part of him that wanted to make things okay, wanted to wipe out whatever it was that had brought the awful dead look to Ray's eyes, but Ray just followed him quietly, stepping into the dark bedroom and kicking the door shut behind them.

They stood there in the darkness for a long moment, letting their eyes adjust, Ryan's fingers still looped lightly around Ray's wrists, feeling his pulse pounding though the skin there. He let go of one of them to reach for the light switch, but Ray's voice stopped him.

"No," he said, sharp and almost panicked, and Ryan froze with his hand halfway there. "I want – " Ray continued, and Ryan felt him twist his hand out of Ryan's grasp, then the light brush of his fingers against Ryan's throat, tracing along the edge of the mask. "Can I – ?"

Ryan inhaled sharply, but he nodded. "Yeah," he said quietly, instantly, with no hesitation, and Ray's fingers skimmed lightly over his jaw before gripping the mask and pulling it off over his head. He breathed in the cool rush of air and then closed his eyes as he heard the quiet noise of the mask hitting the floor and felt Ray's hands against him again, skimming across the stubble on his cheeks, tracing up to brush through his hair, tangling lightly into it. He felt his way down to Ryan's neck, the careful scrape of his nails making him shiver lightly, and then his fingers were brushing across his jaw, his cheeks, brow, nose, down to skim over his lips, the motions quick and steady like he was mapping out each line of Ryan's face.

He paused with his finger against Ryan's lower lip, and Ryan let out a slow, shaky breath, tipping his head to catch the finger lightly in his teeth. Ray breathed out a laugh and let his thumb brush against Ryan's chin until he let go, Ray's hands disappearing.

"You sneaky son of a bitch," Ray said. "You've been hot under that thing this whole time."

Ryan gave a low laugh. "Well, now that you know my secret," he said, "I guess I'll have to kill you." He meant it as a joke, but the words fell flat as he remembered the blank look in Ray's eyes as he'd looked out the window at the city, and he reached for him immediately, cupping his hands around Ray's face and pulling him close. He didn't quite do the same, because he knew Ray's face, each quirk of his lips, the slight crinkle of his eyes as he smiled, but he touched his temple lightly as he pulled his glasses off, setting them carefully on the bedside table. 

Ray went still under his hands as Ryan reached to frame his face again, and he felt a sudden moment of hesitation, leaning in and pausing, their lips close enough that he could feel the way Ray's breath went unsteady with anticipation.

He knew the sounds Ray made as he came, the way he folded in on himself when he was trying to be quiet, the wicked smile that would spread across his face when he wanted Ryan to beg for it. He knew how to make him melt against Ryan's chest just by pressing his mouth to the spot below his ear, and how he didn't like to have his hair pulled, but would practically come in his pants when Ryan would wrap a hand around the back of his neck and fuck his mouth. 

"Ryan – " Ray said quietly, and Ryan could name six ways to get him off in under a few minutes, but didn't know how he kissed or how it felt to lie down on a bed, exhausted and fucked out, with Ray stretched out beside him or on top of him, and suddenly he _wanted_ to know those things, he _needed_ to before the blank look came back and Ray walked out the door towards whatever had driven him to Ryan's doorstep. He closed the space between them, leaning in to take Ray's mouth with his, and there was nothing soft or passive about it, Ray's hands gripping Ryan's hips, pulling him close, Ryan's fingers pressing to the curve of Ray's face, tilting it as they kissed, holding him, grounding him, losing himself in the feeling of Ray's lips and tongue and the light scrape of his teeth until they were both breathless.

He turned them, backing Ray blindly toward the bed, and Ray let him, tripping gracelessly back onto it, sprawling out and reaching a foot to catch Ryan's knee, making it buckle under him. "Smooth," Ryan said as he toppled down, leaning over Ray, and this time it was Ray who reached for him, curling his fingers into Ryan's hair and dragging him in to kiss him fiercely. Ryan let a hand trail up Ray's body, pushing his shirt up as he went, skimming his fingers over the soft skin of his side, and it was slow, lazy, comfortable in a way things never were between them. Ray let him, though, stretching to bare more of his skin to Ryan's hands, and Ryan pulled back from the kiss to strip him completely naked, his hands learning Ray's body the way Ray's fingers had learned his face, leaving him sprawled out on the bed hard and wanting.

" _Ryan,_ " he said again, demanding this time, and Ryan smirked, looking up the line of Ray's body, his fingers curling lightly over his hips and pressing them down into the mattress.

"Yeah," he agreed, unhurried, and ducked down to press his mouth to the hollow of Ray's hip, scrape his teeth lightly along his thigh.

He worked him over slowly, teasing with his fingers tight enough against him to leave marks, and by the time he focused in to lick a long stripe up Ray's dick, Ray was writhing against the covers under Ryan's hands. Ray's head dropped back, a low strangled sound escaping from his lips. Ryan let a tiny smile pull at the edge of his mouth before he was leaning in to suck lightly at the head of Ray's cock.

"You know," Ray said, his voice rough around the words, "I don't remember fucking you over like this the first time I sucked _your_ dick."

"No," Ryan agreed. "But there wasn't really time for it then, was there?" He leaned in again, wrapping his lips around Ray, wringing a low groan from him. 

"Who says we have time now?" Ray objected, and Ryan pulled back with an obscene sound.

"I mean," he said, "if you have to go…" he waved toward the door. "By all means."

Ray made a frustrated noise and his hand shot out, tangling roughly into Ryan's hair. He hesitated there for just a moment, just long enough for Ryan to tilt his hand into the touch, breathe out, " _Yeah_ ," and then Ray's fingers were going tight, dragging Ryan down to his cock. Ryan gave up all pretense of teasing then, sucking at him in earnest and losing himself in the stretch of his jaw, the feeling of Ray thrusting his hips up to meet him, his fingers tight and insistent in his hair.

"Hey," Ray said just before he came, his voice breaking, "I'm – I can't – " and Ryan backed off until his lips were resting just at the tip of Ray's cock, his tongue pressing against the underside, sucking deep and steady, and Ray came with a strangled gasp, his hips jerking helplessly under Ryan's hands.

He went boneless immediately, falling back against the bed, and Ryan carefully pulled away, flexing his hands, unable to see the marks he'd left on Ray's skin in the dark, but smoothing his fingers over them apologetically anyway. Ray arched under the light touch, and if Ryan hadn't been impossibly hard already, that would have done it, the feeling of Ray tilting his hips lazily toward him, a slow easy movement that made him wonder what it would be like to fuck him, to be fucked by him.

"Just…gimme a minute, here, and I'll – " Ray said, gesturing at him, and Ryan brushed his thumb lightly against the skin of Ray's hip where it rested, just to make him squirm again. 

"Sure," Ryan replied, and undid his pants with his other hand, reaching in to tease himself, pressing his palm against his dick and letting out a low shaky moan. "I'm just gonna be over here. Doing this."

"Yeah, I mean, if that's how you want it," Ray said, shrugging, but it was only seconds before his fingers were reaching out to trace the base of Ryan's cock through his pants. He reached up to hook his fingers in the waistband and pull, and Ryan let them slide down, tugging his shirt off as they went, both of them kneeling there naked on the bed, like they were each waiting for the other to make the next move.

"Here," Ray said finally, reaching for Ryan's shoulder. Ryan pushed back for a moment, staying upright under the pressure of Ray's hand, but Ray was insistent, practically climbing into his lap, so Ryan let himself drop back, enjoying the weight of Ray stretching out over him, the feeling of their mouths pressing together as Ray leaned up, still unfamiliar and exhilarating. He reached to let his hands rest on Ray's thighs, not gripping, just pressing there, and Ray moved against him, sliding down until the curve of his ass was just teasing against the head of Ryan's cock.

Ryan moaned into his mouth, and he could feel Ray smile against him. "Yeah?" he asked, and ground back harder. Ryan's dick slipped against his skin, slick and turned on, and he shuddered underneath him, one of his hands curling with the need to reach down and grab himself right there with Ray's body warm and solid pressing him down into the bed. "Go ahead," Ray said, low beside his ear, one of his hands dropping to push Ryan's arm downward, then darting up to sink his fingers into Ryan's hair, his head dropping down so that his words fell against the skin of Ryan's neck. "You want to jerk yourself off? Fucking do it."

Ryan breathed out steadily as he wrapped a hand around himself, Ray's hips twisting against him, the same movement that had been so unbearably hot when he was stretched out on the bed, and now here he was, grinding his hips back against Ryan, Ryan's hand working his cock, the head of it bumping against the soft warm skin of his ass, and Ryan wasn't going to last long at all, was going to come from Ray doing almost nothing at all to him, just from the feeling of their bodies pressing together, the thought of Ray riding him like this, sinking down on his cock – and it was that thought that pushed him right over the edge, his hips jerking up, back arching under Ray's weight. He came all over Ray's back, and Ray folded down over him, not kissing him, just pressing his lips open-mouthed to the side of Ryan's neck, carefully untangling his fingers and leaving them there curling lightly into his hair until Ryan's breathing returned to normal.

He rolled off, but didn't break contact, reaching for Ryan's shirt with one hand and swiping it over the small of his back, then tossing it aside. He flopped down on his stomach, burying his face in one arm, his whole side pressed along Ryan's. Ryan lay still, looking up at the ceiling, not wanting to move, feeling Ray breathing slow and steady beside him. Neither of them slept – Ryan couldn't remember the last time he'd fallen asleep in front of someone – but they lay there still and quiet for a long time, until Ray pushed himself up on his arms.

"So hey, yeah. That …happened," he said, and Ryan laughed quietly. He reached for Ray's glasses, retrieving them from the bedside table and settling them onto his face.

"It did," he agreed. A heavy silence settled between them as Ray kicked his legs off the bed, pulling his pants back on, and there was a part of Ryan that wanted to reach out for him, to pull him back into bed and curl around him, blocking out whatever had made the faint line of tension appear between his eyebrows again. Instead, he pulled on his own pants and stood, waiting by the doorway while Ray carefully gathered all his things.

Ray went for the door without looking at him, and paused there with his hand against it. "Look," he said, and trailed off, not seeming to know where to go from there.

"Hey." Ryan reached out, touching the rough line of his jaw lightly, and tilted Ray's face for a brief but intense kiss. "You need someone you trust at your back out there, you call me."

Ray laughed quietly. "Hey, deal was that I'd suck your dick," he pointed out. "I don't remember anything in the contract about trusting you."

"Ray." It was a tone he had never intended to pick up from Geoff, but there it was, gruff and reluctantly protective, and instead of answering, Ray hesitated with his hand on the door. 

"Thanks," he said finally, flatly.

"You're not gonna call."

"Not in a million years, no."

Ryan nodded. "Then I guess I should say good luck." He paused. "Break a leg? Bon voyage?"

Ray laughed, sounding a little choked. "Christ, you're a fucking nerd."

"Yeah," Ryan agreed, trying for self-satisfied and coming out a little more wistful than he intended. "Look, just…I know you never signed on with these guys full time, but when you're done with this job, maybe check in, okay? Who knows, maybe they'll still be hiring."

"They better not be," Ray said grimly, and didn't give Ryan time to ask him to explain. Instead, he leaned in and kissed Ryan roughly, backing him up against the wall with one hand while he opened the door with the other. "Actually," he said when he pulled away. "There's one favor you can do for me."

Ryan didn't nod without knowing the terms, but he met Ray's eyes steadily, waiting.

"Eventually," Ray said, "Geoff's going to ask you to track me down." His fingers tightened against Ryan's chest. "Don't."

"I'm not the only person on his payroll," Ryan reminded him.

"No," Ray agreed, "but you're the only one with a decent chance of finding me."

Ryan smiled faintly. "Probably true," he agreed. He let his fingers rest lightly against Ray's side for a moment, pressing to the spot where the marks from his fingers would be. "I won't," he promised.

Ray nodded and backed away, breaking all contact between them and standing silhouetted in the door. Ryan leaned back against the wall, shirtless and exhausted, and Ray gave him a crisp nod. "Vagabond," he said, without any of the stiffness the word had held when they first met.

Ryan smiled faintly. "Brownman," he replied with a matching nod, and Ray left, closing the door behind him with a solid click of finality.  
______________

"You know something," Geoff said, sticking a finger in Ryan's face, and Ryan calmly pushed it away. 

"I know a lot of things," he replied evenly.

Geoff peered at him like he was trying to see directly through the mask, and he shook his head slowly. "You do," he insisted. "You know something, because you're a nosy motherfucker, and you'd want to know what's up just as much as I do."

Ryan shrugged. "Has it ever crossed your mind," he asked, "that maybe I just don't care?"

Geoff eyed him closely for a moment, seeming to consider the possibility, then shook his head. "Bullshit." He leaned against the bar beside Ryan. "I'm just saying, part of your team goes missing, a reasonable human being shows a little curiosity."

Ryan met his eyes. "We're not a team, Geoff." He was answered by grave silence, until Geoff reached over the counter to take the whole bottle of whiskey, turning away. 

"You know something," he repeated, and walked off.

On Ryan's other side, Jack sighed deeply. "He's just worried," she said.

"Yeah," Ryan replied flatly, and made the mistake of looking over at her. Her eyes were on him, calm and oddly knowing, and one of her hands cupped around her bottle and slid it toward him. He didn't look away as he grabbed the beer, and carefully folded up the bottom of his mask to take a long sip. The noise as he set it back against the bar was too loud, jarring, and her hand fell lightly against his as she reached to take the bottle back.  
______________

He could hear Geoff's voice from the hallway, the words indistinct, but in a familiar tone of affectionate bickering. He knocked, and there was a pause before the door was pulled open in front of him.

"I'm not sure which of you was on the side of awesome, here," he said, stepping into the apartment, "but I'm going to back them all the way, because blowing that station was pure genius."

To his surprise, the person sitting on the couch looking up at him with interest wasn't Jack. He was young and freckled, with a hat pulled down over unruly curls and a glass of whiskey clutched in his hand. He looked Ryan over and turned to raise his eyebrows at Geoff. "This was Plan B?" he asked. "I mean, I'm flattered and all, but you probably should have considered him first." He stood and stuck out his hand, unexpectedly polite, and Ryan shook it with mild surprise. "Michael Jones," he said. He turned to Geoff. "You hear that?" he asked. " _Genius_."

Geoff rolled his eyes and looked at Ryan. "Don't encourage him," he said.

"Does encouraging him get us explosions?" Ryan asked. "Because sorry, but that was beautiful, and I would like it to happen a lot." 

Michael looked pleased as he retreated to the couch. "There's one vote in my favor."

Geoff frowned. "This isn't a voting thing, Michael," he said. "Look, you're the one who turned _us_ down the first time, remember? And the second time, and every time after that."

Michael shrugged. "Not really my choice," he replied. 

"Well, this is." Geoff flopped down next to him, somehow managing not to spill any of his drink. "You want a job? You got a job."

"That easy, huh?"

Ryan shrugged. "We're not big on formalities, here," he pointed out.

"Hey, Ryan, want a job?" Geoff asked him, and Ryan knew he was just playing it up for Michael, but it still made his chest go tight at the memory of Ray asking if he'd considered what he'd say if the offer ever came.

"Nah," he replied, deceptively casual, and Geoff grinned at him.

"See?" Geoff asked Michael.

"What," Michael said, turning to Ryan, "you're just here for the fun of it?" 

"Sure. The fun. That and I'm worth more if I'm in demand, aren't I?" Ryan asked. "I sign an exclusive contract with these guys, what do I do when the next crew of badasses comes along to sweep me off my feet?"

"Kill us all, probably," Jack replied, appearing in the hallway, freshly showered and grinning.

Ryan smiled back at her. "Well," he said, shrugging. "There's that."

"You're making this sound better and better," Michael said dryly.

"Don't let the mask fool you," Geoff said confidentially. "He's actually a marshmallow."

Ryan turned to look at him. "What kind of marshmallows have _you_ been eating?" he asked. 

"The kind with big nasty scary pointy teeth?" Jack offered, settling onto the arm of the couch at Geoff's side, draping an arm across his shoulders, and Ryan was struck again by how instantly comfortable they seemed with Michael, how easily they fell into their snarky back and forth.

"Yeah, so, I'm gonna - " Ryan gestured toward the bag of cash on the counter, and Geoff nodded, watching carefully as Ryan opened it, sorting the money evenly into stacks. He flashed Geoff four fingers, tilting his head questioningly, and Geoff nodded. He tossed one wad in Michael's direction when he was done, and Michael fumbled it, nearly spilling his drink all over himself. "Welcome to town, kid," Ryan said on his way out the door, waving over his shoulder at Geoff and Jack.

The door was still closing behind him as he heard Michael say, "Marshmallow, huh?" in a deeply skeptical tone.  
______________

"I mean," Ryan said, settling down beside Jack and looking across the roof at Geoff and Michael, "are we _sure_ they're not going to set the building on fire? I'm not attached or anything, I'm just wondering."

Jack grinned, tipping her head back against the wall behind her. "Don't worry," she said, "Geoff knows his way around a grill."

"He's not really the one I'm worried about."

She snorted. "You think he's going to let Michael do anything? Michael's from _Jersey_. What does he know about barbecue?"

"Not much, probably," Ryan admitted. "But a hell of a lot about combustibles."

Jack turned to eye him speculatively. "So do you ever relax?" she asked. "About anything? Ever?"

"Not really, no."

They lapsed into an oddly comfortable silence, Jack sipping her beer, Ryan tossing pebbles across the roof towards Geoff's bottle, trying to knock it over. He watched Geoff and Michael together, the way Michael hovered in Geoff's space, leaning over his shoulder, asking questions and either nodding seriously at the reply or making some comment that would make Geoff's laugh echo over the rooftop. He watched Geoff, casually tactile with Michael in the way he was with Jack, the way he was with Gavin in the few pictures of them Ryan had seen. His hand fell lightly against Michael's hip, his fingers brushing skin above his waistband, and Michael leaned into him, his hair lightly touching Geoff's neck as he leaned in to say something under his breath that had Geoff laughing again. Ryan darted a glance over at Jack, who was watching them with a fond smile on her face.

She caught him looking and turned her smile on him. "What?" she asked.

He shrugged. "They're…Michael was a good call."

"He was, wasn't he?" She eyed him. "You know we wanted him years ago?"

"Yeah," Ryan said. "That's how I found you guys. He turned you down, and you put out word to Griffon you were looking for warm bodies."

Jack leaned to bump her shoulder against his. "Glad you answered," she said, and he felt himself flush faintly under the mask until she added, "most of the prospects were real fuckups."

Ryan laughed. "Well, then they should have fit right in."

Jack kicked him lightly, her eyes turning back to Geoff and Michael as Geoff let a hand slide up the back of Michael's shirt suggestively, and Michael ducked away, laughing, gesturing at the meat cooking on the grill. "Boy's got his priorities in order, at least," she said, grinning. "Food first, then fucking."

Ryan smiled in reply, but he eyed her closely. "So they _are_ fucking, then."

She looked at him blankly. "Well, yeah."

He shrugged. "I didn't know if it was just – " he waved a hand in a _Geoff being Geoff_ kind of motion. He looked at her. "That's not…weird?"

"Nah," she said carelessly. "It's not that complicated. They're...well, it's kind of like you and Ray, right?"

Ryan raised an eyebrow, watching Michael lean against the table beside them, saying something that made Geoff double over laughing. "I guess I didn't realize Geoff did casual," he said.

Jack looked at him strangely. "I didn't say it was casual," she replied.

"Well, then you're greatly misinterpreting what was happening with me and Ray," Ryan said.

"Oh." She eyed him closely for a moment, and shrugged. "Okay, sorry. But anyway. No, it's not weird. It's…nice." She watched Geoff and Michael for a moment. "Geoff doesn't get to be happy enough. Michael…he's good for him."

"You make him happy." Ryan said it automatically, without thinking, and was startled to realize that he actually had plenty of evidence to back it up, plenty of times when he'd noticed Geoff's worried face melting into a fond smile as Jack entered a room, his shots getting a little more certain when Jack appeared safe in their getaway vehicle. It was true, but it was the sort of thing he never would have expected himself to notice. "Ugh, listen to me. What are you people doing to me?" 

Jack let out a delighted laugh and leaned against his side. "Being great influences on you," she said. "Obviously."

"Obviously," he agreed dryly, but he let his arm drop around her shoulders, and contentedly watched Geoff and Michael starting to bicker over the food under the changing light of the setting sun.  
______________

"Hey."

It was an oddly subdued greeting from Geoff, and Ryan shifted his phone against his ear. "Hi," he replied. "What's up?"

"What would be your feelings on getting out of town for a few days?"

Ryan raised his eyebrows. "I mean, if you're trying to get me to disappear so you and Jack can proposition Michael..." he trailed off, and Geoff laughed quietly.

"It's like you think we'd care about having an audience," he said. "That's cute. No, I've got something that I'd like somebody to look into."

"Do you have details on that something, or am I flying blind, here?"

Geoff was quiet for a long moment. "I asked you," he said eventually, "after Ray left, what you knew."

Ryan breathed out slowly. "No, actually, I'm pretty sure there were no question marks involved in that conversation."

" _Ryan_." The tone was halfway between pleading and warning, the kind of voice he'd use on Jack, but never on Ryan before, and Ryan fell silent. "Look. I get that neither of you really bought into the crew thing, and that's fine, I'm not gonna lie, I think Jack's full of shit a lot of the time too. But we've been working with him on and off for a long time now, and it's not like him to go off the grid. Not like this. All I'm saying is, look into it. I'm not looking for him to come back, I don't even care who he's working for, I just - " he trailed off, and Ryan closed his eyes.

"No," he said quietly.

"No?" He could practically hear Geoff's raised eyebrows over the phone. "Have you _ever_ turned down a paying job before?"

"Oh, hey, no one mentioned payment," Ryan said, and paused just long enough for Geoff to start to reply before cutting him off. "But still, no. Look, I don't know where Ray is. But I know what _I'd_ want if I decided to disappear, and it sure as hell wouldn't be this."

"I don't know that that's even what happened, here," Geoff said. "I mean, look, I'm not saying we have a lot of competition in this city these days, but I _am_ saying it wouldn't be the first time that someone grabbed one of my people to try to get at me. Or the first time that one of my people maybe took on something they couldn't handle on their own. If I knew this was something he was planning, it would be different. I don't know that."

Ryan was quiet for a long moment before replying. "If you knew that," he said carefully, "that would be enough?"

"Absolutely," Geoff said instantly. Ryan fell silent again, looking out at the lights of the city, until Geoff finally prompted, "You still there?"

"I'm here," Ryan said. "Okay. No, I'm not going to look for Ray. No, I don't know why he left town, or where he went, or where he is now. But I know that he left, and I know that he did it for a reason. I don't know what that reason was, and it's none of my business, or yours."

Geoff didn't reply for a long moment. "Okay," he said finally, quietly. "Okay. That's...well. Now I know."

"Now you know," Ryan agreed.

"Do you think - " Geoff paused, the words coming out dull and tired sounding, and there was a part of Ryan that suddenly felt like texting Jack, telling her that Geoff could use her, wherever he was right now. Instead, he leaned his forehead against the cool glass of the window and closed his eyes. "I mean, you don't know if he was planning on coming back, do you?"

"No," Ryan replied, still seeing the hollow look in Ray's face under the dim light of his front porch. "I don't know."

"Okay." There was a crackle of static, the rustle of Geoff moving around, and he finally said, "I guess that's that, then."

"Kind of, yeah."

"Ryan, look." Ryan grimaced, steeling himself for whatever Geoff was going to say, but he just sighed out a long breath and said, "Thanks."

"Yeah." The word came out quieter than he meant it too, his voice choking off at the end, and he cleared his throat. "We'll see, right?"

"We'll see," Geoff agreed, and the phone went dead. Ryan stayed there for a long time, letting the phone drop to his side, and when he felt like he could move again, he tucked the phone away and headed for the door, his car, the open road, needing to be anywhere but in his empty, cramped apartment, where all he could think of was the feeling of Ray pressing against him in the dark, saying goodbye without ever speaking the words.  
______________

"Okay, so I have to know," Ryan said, settling down next to Michael. "How _did_ you rig the fuse on that thing? Because I tried something similar a while back, and...well, it didn't turn out too great."

"Oh, hang on, I can show you," Michael replied. He dug his phone out of his pocket. "I think I got some shots of it, the first time we pulled it off back home. Yeah, here." He stuffed the phone into Ryan's hand, and Ryan looked down at it incredulously.

"Wait, you have _pictures_ of this?"

"Yeah, sure, I had to - "

Ryan flipped through the pictures. "Jesus, Michael," he said. "You never should have taken these."

"They're for reference," Michael objected. "Easier than drawing myself a diagram or something."

"Yeah, sure. Also _evidence_."

"Well, okay, but - "

"But what?" Ryan asked. "But you're never gonna get caught? Don't give me that bullshit, I know you're smarter than that."

"Jeez, man." Michael made a face at him. "If I wanted a lecture, I'd have gone to Jack."

Ryan flipped through a few more photos, and was about to hand the phone back when something caught his eye in the corner of a picture, just a flash of color that had him squinting at the screen, then flipping forward a few more pictures to a shot of Ray grinning over his shoulder at the camera, bright and unguarded, a brilliant pink gun strapped to his back. 

Ryan's throat went tight.

"What - " Michael asked, and Ryan felt him leaning lightly against his side as he peered at the screen. "Oh." His voice sounded strained and unfamiliar. "That's - " his fingers darted out and grabbed the phone. "Forget it, man. I'll delete them, okay?"

"Michael..." Ryan began, but didn't know how to continue. There was a part of him that wanted to reach out and take the phone back, to stare at that picture until it started making sense with the Ray he knew, all competence and sarcastic side comments. It was an older picture, a pair of glasses and a few haircuts before the last time Ryan had seen him, but it was the expression more than the timing that made him look so much younger, his eyes meeting Michael's through the camera, mid-laugh. Ryan breathed out slowly as Michael tucked the phone away, his cheeks stained faintly pink, and Ryan was suddenly glad for the mask to hide his matching face behind.

"Yeah," he said belatedly, voice gruff. "Good idea."

It was weeks before it came up again, weeks of Ryan being around more than he ever had, watching Michael fitting himself seamlessly into the spaces between the three of them until none of them could quite remember how things had ever worked before he'd arrived. He became Geoff and Jack's third instantly and willingly, in a way that Ryan and Ray had always avoided, and instead of pushing Ryan away, it drew him in more, making him spend even more time with them, on jobs and off, planning intently late into the night, once even falling asleep on Geoff's couch to wake up with a blanket tossed carelessly over him.

It was on one of those nights that he slipped out onto the balcony, Jack and Geoff arguing loudly in the kitchen, to find Michael already there, drink in hand, leaning against the railing and looking out at the city. He didn't startle at Ryan's appearance, but he looked up, raising his eyebrows a little.

"Still going at it?" he asked. Ryan nodded. "Jesus Christ!" Michael yelled at the door. "Just fuck already!"

Ryan laughed quietly and settled down beside him. "I thought about clearing out so they would," he said, "but I'd have to go right through the middle of it to get to the door."

Michael shook his head seriously. "Dangerous proposition," he agreed.

"So." Ryan held up his hands. "Here I am."

Michael smiled and let his head tip back against the railing. They were quiet for a long while, until Michael looked over at him. "You've been with them a while, huh?" he asked.

Ryan shrugged. "'With' might be a strong word, there," he said. "But yeah, they call me in pretty often."

Michael nodded. "You have a team before?" he asked.

"No," Ryan said flatly. He wanted to leave it there, but something about the comfortable way Michael was sprawled out beside him made him think better of it, made him consider his words before he continued. "There was someone, when I first got into town. We..." he shrugged. "We worked well together."

"What happened?" Michael asked, voice hushed and eyes wide, and Ryan felt a jolt as he realized how Michael was expecting the story to end.

"Oh, she's fine," he said. "It's just...she was starting up a team, and I..." He lifted a hand. "I'm not really a team guy." He waited for Michael to point out how incongruous the words were with their situation, sitting quietly together while Geoff and Jack bickered domestically in the background, but he didn't. "I kind of went off the grid. As far as she knows, I cleared out of town right around the time the Vagabond showed up." He grinned. "I might have let her believe I wasn't on great terms with the guy."

Michael let out a low whistle. "That's cold, man."

Ryan shrugged. "It was a good move for everyone." He eyed Michael. "Why do you ask?"

"I dunno." He took a sip of his drink. "Just thinking, I guess."

"What about you?" Ryan asked. "I mean, I know things didn't work out with your mob contacts, but did you have people, back in Liberty City? Aside from that?"

Michael was quiet for a long moment, until Ryan started to think he wasn't going to answer, and when he did, his voice was strained. "Same as you, really. One guy. Friend of mine. He never got into most of the shit I got tangled up with, but he had his own operation going on, kind of a one-man show." He slid his eyes over toward Ryan. "That guy you saw in my pictures?" he asked. "That was him."

"Oh." It hadn't been what Ryan was looking for, but suddenly things started to click into place, Michael being approached by Geoff before Ryan was even considered, Ray's cryptic questioning about an explosives guy, his disappearance just weeks before Michael turned up again, the hopelessness in his face when he'd showed up at Ryan's door that last night, and the tight, twisted look Michael got when he saw Ryan looking at the picture. He had to swallow to make sure his voice would be steady as he asked, "Is he...?"

"I don't know." The words came out too loud, Michael's voice breaking, and he swallowed down what was left of his drink in one gulp. "I got out of town... _he_ got me out of town. I was in some shit with my bosses, about my brother...it was a mess, and Ray - he came back for me. I didn't know where he was, you know? He did jobs all over the place, was gone for weeks and months at a time, and I texted him, and he just...showed up. With a plan and a getaway and everything, and then..." He sighed. "He was supposed to meet me here," he said, sounding defensive. "That's what he said, he said he knew some guys, and I should take that offer I'd gotten from Geoff, and he'd get in touch when he got here, but - " He fell silent, curling his knees up and wrapping his arms around him. "I don't think he ever planned on walking out of there alive," he said finally. 

"No," Ryan agreed quietly, his stomach dropping at the confirmation of what he already knew, but when Michael looked at him, the hurt he had been hiding behind anger and bravado suddenly painfully apparent, Ryan cleared his throat, bumping his shoulder against Michael's. "No," he said, clearer, more confident, "come on, this guy sounds like a complete badass. Maybe he just got held up, you don't know. You've been in this business long enough to know that no one's dead 'til you see the body."

Michael looked at him, raising his eyebrows. "Okay, you're not the one I would have expected the sappy bullshit from, I've got to say," he said.

"No sap involved," Ryan told him, "it's just being practical, right? _Never_ assume someone's dead. That's the sort of thing that's going to turn around and bite you right in the ass."

"You're so full of shit," Michael replied, but his lips were curving up into a faint smile.

"No, okay, I am talking from experience here," Ryan insisted. "Did I ever tell you about the time - " and he launched into a story that was mostly true with a few embellishments, carefully watching the worry and grief drain from Michael's face. By the time Geoff appeared at the doorway, Michael was curled up laughing hysterically as Ryan tried to explain how exactly the cow had gotten involved in the first place.  
______________

"So what I'm getting here," Ryan said, kneeling up to peek over the wall and take a quick shot before dropping down beside Jack, "is that we probably should have waited for Geoff to get back into town before we pulled this one."

"Probably, yeah," Jack said. She was still panting from their short dash to cover, and Michael knelt on her other side, reloading.

"We can _never_ tell him about this," Michael said.

"Never," Jack vowed solemnly. She looked up at Ryan. "Any weak points?"

"Yeah, here," he said, waving a hand at the three of them, and she gave him an unamused look. He grinned at her and looked down his scope at the targets. "I think maybe," he said, "if one of us comes in from the left - " he broke off as the man he was observing crumpled. "Oh, hey, nice, Michael." He glanced over, but Michael's gun was still in his lap, and he was blinking at Ryan, confused. "Oh." He peered through the scope again, and watched another guy get knocked backwards. "Jack? Did you call in backup?"

Jack snorted. "We don't _have_ backup, man. Lindsay's crew got called in by Kerry on Tuesday."

"Well, _someone's_ \- " Ryan began, and the rest of his words were swallowed up in a deafening noise as a tank on the roof went up in flames. 

"Hey, I appreciate a mystery and all," Michael said, peeking out from behind the wall towards a nearby alley, "but how about we haul ass now and ask questions later?"

"Sounds like a plan," Jack agreed, and scooted past him into the alley, busting into a car parked there and getting to work on it. Ryan took a few more shots, and by the time the engine roared to life, almost no one was remaining on the rooftop opposite them. He ushered Michael after Jack with a hand on his back, then followed, nearly colliding with him as Michael stopped dead a few feet from the car, someone dropping down from the fire escape above them directly in their path. Jack had a gun at the guy's temple in seconds, and the man's hands raised slowly, his lips curving up into a smile.

"Gonna shoot me, Jack?"

She dropped the gun immediately. "What the _fuck_ , Ray?" she demanded, and he grinned at her. 

"I'm just saying," he said, adjusting his gun over his shoulder, "I deserve at least half of whatever you walked out of there with." In front of Ryan, Michael let out a strangled noise, and Ray's eyes swung over to him. "Hi," he said casually, and Michael was on him in seconds, a blur of fists and curses.

Jack took a step forward to intervene, but Ryan waved her back. "Let them," he said, and it wasn't long before Michael's hands stilled against Ray, his fingers twisting into his hoodie, holding onto him and muttering furiously, too low for Ryan to make out the words.

"Hey," Ray mumbled against Michael's hat, "no homo, man," but when he hugged Michael back awkwardly, the smile that spread across his face was soft and genuine, and completely unfamiliar.  
______________

"Hey." The noise from inside the bar was still fading as the door closed behind Ray and he settled onto the edge of the roof beside Ryan. "Miss me?"

"Shouldn't you be downstairs celebrating your triumphant return?" Ryan asked.

Ray raised a shoulder. "Did that," he said. "Had a Diet Coke and everything. Really living on the edge." He looked over at Ryan. "I think Michael and Jack just didn't know what to do with me, without Geoff around."

"Sounds likely," Ryan agreed. "Are you…?" he trailed off carefully, and changed tracks. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I don't know," Ray replied. "Somebody suggested that I check in when I was done back east, see if you guys might be hiring."

"Yeah?" Ryan turned to really look at him for the first time, and found that he looked mostly the same as the last time he'd seen him, but without the haunted look in his eyes. "You looking for work?"

"Might be. You guys looking for help? Because, you know, after that showing today, you probably should be."

Ryan smiled. "Yeah, thanks for that, by the way."

Ray shrugged. "I was in the neighborhood." He glanced over his shoulder at the door down to the bar. "You guys looked..."

"Like a mess?" 

"I was gonna say kind of like a crew." Ryan raised his eyebrows at him. "I mean, a crew who was getting its ass kicked, for sure, but – " he looked over his shoulder at the door to the bar. "How's it going?"

"With Michael?" Ryan asked, and Ray hesitated a moment before nodding. "It's…" he tried to come up for words for how it felt like things had started to fall into place while Ray had been gone, how he didn't know if it was Michael being around, or Geoff and Jack learning how to build a team, or something changing in himself, but how he found himself just assuming he was on most jobs they pulled now, and they were gradually starting to assume the same. "It's working," he finished lamely, and when Ray looked concerned, he added, "Michael's…he's great."

"Yeah?" Ray asked, looking momentarily pleased that Ryan had said so before shrugging neutrally. "He's pretty good."

"Not as good as you?" Ryan asked, nudging Ray's leg with his own, and Ray gave him a half smile.

"No one's as good as me," he said. He nodded back over his shoulder. "Come on," he said. "If I have to endure this charming welcome back party, so do you."

"Hey, I'm not the one being welcomed back, here," Ryan pointed out. "No one's going to miss me if I disappear."

As if on cue, the door behind them burst open, and Jack appeared, leaning against the doorframe. "If you guys don't come back, there is an entire tray of nachos down there that I am just going to eat by myself." She paused. "I'm not saying that's a deal breaker or anything."

Ryan grinned and stood, offering Ray a hand up. Ray ignored it and pushed himself to his feet, but as they made their way back downstairs after Jack, he grabbed Ryan's arm, leaning in close to his ear to say quietly, "Fifteen minutes, and then we're _both_ disappearing," in a voice that made Ryan's neck go hot.

It ended up being closer to a few hours, Ray relaxing once he'd settled into a booth next to a tipsy Michael, who was determined to catch Ray up on all the wildest jobs they'd taken in his absence, acting them out on the table with pretzels and sugar packets, with Ryan and Jack adding in details and sound effects as needed. 

It was late when they finally left, Jack steering Michael toward her car with practiced hands, extracting him from draping himself across Ray's shoulders.

"He'll still be here in the morning," she promised him, and Michael looked seriously into Ray's eyes.

"Will you?" he demanded, and Ryan didn't miss the way that Ray looked momentarily sick with guilt.

"Yeah, Michael," he said, settling his hands against his waist and lightly pushing him back towards Jack. "I'll be here."

Michael nodded seriously and let Jack pull him away, and it wasn't until her tail lights had faded in the distance that Ray glanced over at Ryan. 

"Don't ask," he mumbled. 

"Wasn't planning on it," Ryan said easily, and he wanted to reach out to him, settle his hands against Ray's back and reassuringly guide him to the car like Jack had with Michael, but instead he turned and started walking in that direction himself, trusting Ray to follow or leave as he chose. He was nearly at the car when Ray spoke up quietly from just behind him.

"Hey."

Ryan turned to look at him, and Ray's hands were on him immediately, pushing him roughly back against the car door. Their whole bodies pressed together, Ray dropping his face to Ryan's neck, Ryan's hands coming up to catch Ray's hips and hold them, instantly turned on by the heat of Ray's breath against his skin, the insistent weight of him pushing Ryan back against the car. It was like going back in time, like the first time Ray had ever dropped to his knees in front of him, the instant attraction and response with none of the hopelessness and tension of the last time they'd seen each other, and Ryan let himself lose himself in the easy rhythm of it, the feeling of Ray's fingers stroking him through his pants, the quiet noise he let out as Ryan stuck his hands into his back pockets and pulled him forward to grind them together.

"You never answered me before," Ray said against his throat, and Ryan let out a wordless questioning noise in reply. "Did you miss me, or what?"

"What," Ryan replied easily, and let out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a gasp as Ray's teeth scraped at his neck and he rubbed his thumb teasingly over the head of Ryan's cock. 

"I don't think that's entirely true," Ray said. "I mean." He pulled his hands back, sliding them up to Ryan's neck, trailing his fingers back to tug lightly at the hair sticking out from under the edge of his mask. "If it is, I can always…" he pulled back a step, and Ryan let out a frustrated breath. 

" _Ray_ ," he said, leaning back against the car, not reaching for him, waiting, and for a moment, he thought Ray might actually turn and walk away, but it had been so long, and the brief contact between them hadn't been nearly enough, and Ray was against him again in seconds, his hips driving forward, pushing Ryan back against the car like he was proving something.

Ryan leaned back, and let him prove everything he needed to. He held on, and closed his eyes, and lost himself in the feeling of Ray's hands and mouth and body against him, biting his lip to keep from spilling out _I thought you were dead_ , and _don't you ever do that again_ , and _yes, goddamn it, I did. I missed you._  
______________ 

"Bevs!" Geoff had announced as they made their way down the sidewalk together away from the marina, a bag of cash carefully tucked under Jack's arm. Geoff flung his arm firmly around Gavin's shoulders and propelled him toward the door into the nearest bar, sweeping Ray along with them.

"I mean," Ray said, "I don't – " Michael followed, pressing a hand to Ray's back and pushing him lightly after them. "Okay."

Jack smiled after them as she held the door for Ryan, and he stood with her while they ordered a couple of pitchers for the table, watching the way the others crowded into a corner booth, Gavin flapping his hands wildly to illustrate whatever story he was telling them. There were things about Geoff and Michael that were just starting to make sense in the context of seeing them as cohesive units with Gavin and Ray, compatible sets with shared history, and Ryan found that he was oddly enjoying the process of learning new things about them through seeing them with each other. With Michael and Ray, he'd known each of them for so long separately that the ways they fit together were obvious and unmistakable. Gavin should have been an unknown quantity, showing up at the door unannounced and expecting to just fall back into the place he'd left behind, but they'd all lived with Geoff and his stories for so long that Gavin somehow fit seamlessly into the spaces between them, like they hadn't realized they'd been waiting for him the whole time.

"Hey." Jack leaned lightly against Ryan's shoulder. "Didn't go too bad, huh?" She hefted the bag on her shoulder, and he smiled at her, knowing she was close enough to see the expression in his eyes through the mask. 

"Surprisingly," he said, "no."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Oh, come on," she said, "you didn't think it was going to be _that_ bad, did you?"

He shrugged. "Six is a lot to wrangle."

"Yeah, well, you've been with us how long? And I'm convinced you still think any more than one is overkill."

"Sometimes I'm not wrong," he pointed out.

"Sure, but having a crew doesn't mean everyone taking on every job. It means we can spread out, figure out different configurations. Diversify." She tossed some cash onto the bar in exchange for their beer, and they each scooped up one of the pitchers, heading for the table. 

"I wasn't objecting," he said evenly, following her closely. "It just went more smoothly than I expected, that's all."

"Don't ever tell him I said it," she said, looking over her shoulder at him, "but Gavin's pretty good."

He gave a noncommittal shrug, but privately agreed with her. He settled down in the booth, and Gavin's hands were grabbing for the pitcher immediately, nearly sending it end over end. 

"Hey, whoa!" Ryan said, saving it with just a little of the beer sloshing out over their fingers.

"Sorry, Ryan," he said, and Ryan noted that he looked a little embarrassed, but not intimidated at all, not wary in the way that any of the others had been when they first met him. Gavin was the only one who'd met him as Ryan before he ever heard of the Vagabond, and there was something unexpectedly easy in the faintly sheepish grin he shot Ryan as he pried the beer out of his hands and dragged it toward himself.

Ryan waved off the pitcher, but started stealing fries immediately as a plate of them was set down between them, making a game of grabbing one every time no one else was watching. Ray was the only one to catch him, raising his eyebrows slightly and saying nothing.

They talked easily, Geoff spinning some story with Jack adding in the details, then Gavin chiming in with an older one, Michael going off on a tear about something that had happened to him and Ray back in Jersey. Ryan stayed mostly quiet, but he settled into the booth comfortably, letting his arm rest against the back of the seat, not quite touching Ray's shoulders, but hovering there in the space behind him.

They left the booth eventually, as the room got more crowded, Geoff moving to the end of the bar and holding court there, Jack standing behind him, letting him lean back against her, wrapping an arm around him and sharing her laughter between him and Michael. Ryan hovered awkwardly by the wall, and eventually it was Ray who found his way over to him, first talking casually with Gavin, backing towards Ryan in the crowd until Gavin turned away to object to something Geoff was saying, and it was just the two of them, Ray leaning back towards Ryan, too close in the press of people, warm and firm and resolutely not looking back at Ryan as he tilted his hips in time to the music, like he was making fun of himself, but the tease of his body against Ryan was just enough to know it was intentional.

Ryan dropped his head low so when he spoke, it was right beside Ray's ear. "You realize that you're pure evil, right?" Ray gave him a sweetly innocent look over his shoulder. "I mean, just – " Ryan gestured a hand at all of Ray. "Entirely made of evil."

"Yeah, well." Ray ground his hips back against him deliberately. "You're into it."

Ryan groaned, but he let a hand drop to Ray's hip, fingers resting lightly against the bare skin at the edge of his waistband. "Never said I had good taste," he said. 

"Let's get out of here?" Ray asked, like it was a question, a suggestion, like he wasn't practically in Ryan's lap already, and Ryan checked that none of the others were watching before he let his arm wrap around him briefly, pulling him closer.

"Let's," he agreed, close and low beside Ray's ear, and he felt Ray shiver against him before he pulled away, darting through the crowd to lean against Gavin's chair and spin him around, startling the drink right out of his hand.  
_______________

"Maybe you didn't hear me correctly," Geoff said, standing on the sidewalk and crossing his arms, looking up at Ray. "I said large and _discreet_."

"What?" Ray asked, peering out the window at him. "Am I not discreet?"

"Ray, you're in a school bus," Ryan pointed out.

"Meh," Ray replied expressively.

"I was kind of hoping for something a little more structurally sound," Geoff pointed out.

"Dude," Ray replied, "this thing is like a tank."

"A tank would probably look less out of place!" Geoff replied, his voice rising, and Ryan could see Jack hiding a grin.

"So, is this how you always operate, then?" Gavin asked, sliding toward them as Geoff kept yelling at Ray, and Jack shrugged.

"What," she asked, "not into controlled chaos?"

"No, it's _great_ ," Gavin replied enthusiastically, and bounded toward where Michael was inspecting the underside of the bus, yelling, "Michael! Boy! You could fit _so many_ bombs on here."

Jack smirked, settling onto the hood of her car, and Ryan leaned next to her. "How's it going with their security system?" she asked, and he shrugged. 

"Looks pretty straightforward," he said. "I should be able to get us in without too much trouble. Getting out might be a little more of an adventure."

"Luckily," she said, "that part's my job. And I happen to like adventures."

He laughed quietly. "Yeah," he agreed, and wondered at exactly what point he had become the kind of person who would add, "same."  
______________

"Ray?" 

He didn't look up from the game he was playing, his legs tucked up under him on Geoff's couch, but he raised his eyebrows slightly at Ryan's appearance. "Ryan," he replied neutrally.

Ryan watched him play for a few moments, shifting uncomfortably, glancing down the hall for any sign of the others, but the apartment stayed still and quiet. "Look," he began, and Ray shot him an unimpressed look.

"Don't bother."

Ryan sighed. "Ray..."

"Look, I'm good, okay? Sure, those guys got the jump on me. It sucked. But that kind of thing happens. No damage done, right?"

"This time," Ryan said pointedly, and Ray shrugged.

"This time's the one we care about. This isn't really a 'looking to the future' kind of career path we've got."

"Ray. I'm not fucking around," Ryan said.

"Oh. I am."

"The usual, then," Ryan said. "Look, this isn't the first time this has happened."

"I'm a lover, Ryan." Ray leered at him, and Ryan rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, not a fighter, I know. I've got that. And you're deadlier than any of the rest of us long-range, I get that too."

Ray raised a shoulder. "Then what's the problem?"

"The problem is that that's not good enough!"

"Damn. Ryan. You need to relax. Want a smoke?" He patted his pockets. "I think I've got - "

"You're gonna get killed," Ryan said flatly.

"Sure," Ray agreed. "So are you. So's Geoff, and Michael, and everybody else we know. Learning how to throw a punch probably isn't going to fix that." He eyed Ryan, and the corner of his lips started to tug upwards in a smile. "Wait. Is this your _concerned_ face? Are you _worried_ about me? Because I've got to tell you, man, one Jack is enough."

"Jack doesn't worry about you," Ryan replied automatically.

"Maybe not," Ray agreed. "But she worries about Geoff. And Michael. And probably Gavin. Bet you're next." He shrugged. "Guess I'm just the only one on this crew she thinks can handle himself."

"Yeah, you really proved it out there today," Ryan said dryly.

Ray kicked his feet up on the coffee table and let his head fall back into the couch cushions. "Look," he said. "I get it. You've got a crew now, so you want us to be all well-rounded and shit. It's an admirable goal. But it's unrealistic. You're not going to try to get Geoff to understand the tech stuff you do, or make Jack teach Michael how to handle the cargobob. That's the _point_ of having this many people around, right? We've all got what we're good at. You want a sparring partner? Go find Michael, or Jack. I'm busy doing what I do." He waved the controller in Ryan's direction. "I mean, if you feel like picking up one of these and helping me get some of these co-op achievements instead..." he trailed off, shrugging.

Ryan stood there looking at him for a moment, feeling some of the tension that had been coiling in him drain away. "That's...not a bad way of looking at it," he finally allowed.

"Yeah, well. You're not very good at this whole team thing."

Ryan laughed. "Oh, right, and you're great at it." He dropped down onto the floor beside Ray, close enough that Ray's leg pressed lightly against his side. "I thought you were going to take out Gavin a few times today."

"No jury would have ever convicted me," Ray said. "Did you _see_ what he did with that dump truck?"

"It was pretty stunning," Ryan admitted. He reached under the coffee table for another controller and held it up, raising his eyebrows at Ray.

"Yeah?" Ray asked, and grinned. "Sure, let me finish up this match." Ryan settled in to watch, leaning against Ray's legs, and as they started up the next game, Ray said quietly, "So, thanks."

"Yeah, I need these ones too," Ryan said, but Ray kicked him lightly.

"No, I mean, for preferring I don't get myself killed. I can respect that."

"Oh, right. Well." Ryan shrugged. "Offer's there, if you ever want to learn how not to get your ass kicked."

"Sure, and you come see me if you want to know how to actually hit a target." Ryan let out a low growling noise, and Ray laughed. "Too soon?"

"It was _one shot_ ," Ryan said. 

"The one that counted," Ray pointed out. "You're welcome, by the way."

Ryan grumbled quietly under his breath, and shot down Ray's avatar spectacularly onscreen.  
_______________

"Ten seconds," Jack was muttering as she tucked the blanket around Gavin, her hands rough, but her eyes worried as they met Ryan's over his head. "All you had to do was hold the bridge for _ten more seconds_ , and you wouldn't have ended up in the water at all."

"I'd've liked to have seen _you_ do it," Gavin replied hotly. "That bridge was crawling with coppers."

"He's not wrong," Ray pointed out from where he was perched on the arm of the couch, and Jack sighed deeply, tossing up her hands and backing away. 

Gavin was still shaking, and his fingers hadn't let up their death grip on Ryan's jacket, but Ryan could feel him relaxing incrementally as he warmed up, his body leaning heavily against Ryan's side. "Thanks for fishing me out," he mumbled, and Ryan let an arm curl around him lightly under the blanket, where no one else could see.

"Don't make me do it again," he said, and Michael laughed from the bar. 

"Fat chance of that," he said. "You've met Gav, right?"

Ryan shrugged, jostling Gavin's head. "I live in hope."

Michael nodded toward Gavin. "I can take over hot water bottle duty, if you need to sneak away like a pussy or whatever." Ryan glared at him, and Michael looked back impassively. "Mask's not actually that scary anymore, man," he pointed out.

"I don't need a bloody sitter," Gavin grumbled, and Michael laughed.

"Well, we all know _that's_ not true." He looked back at Ryan and shrugged. "You know," he added, "if you have somewhere else to be."

Ryan returned his look and let his head tip until it was resting deliberately against Gavin's, feeling Gavin jolt against him in surprise. "Nah," he said carelessly. "We're good."

"Gav?" Michael's eyes were worried as they flickered down to him, but seemed to relax almost as soon as they took in Gavin, curling against Ryan under his blanket, eyes closed contentedly.

"Bugger off, Michael," he said companionably. "Ryan's warm." His frozen fingers slipped under the edge of Ryan's jacket, pressing to his skin, and Ryan squirmed away from them, wincing.

Michael and Ray exchanged a complicated series of looks before Michael finally nodded, apparently satisfied, and disappeared down the hallway after Jack towards Geoff's room.

Ray slipped down from the arm of the couch, curling into a ball and letting his chin rest on his knees, eyeing Ryan and Gavin. Ryan held his eyes, feeling the moment suspended there, Gavin curled against his chest, Ray's eyes on him, and he suddenly felt exhausted, like he wanted to drop his head back against the couch cushions and sleep there for a week straight. He reached up instead, tugging at the edge of his mask, letting a burst of cool air in, and he sighed deeply.

"Hey," Ray said quietly, leaning forward. He gestured to Gavin. "Has he - ?" He waved a hand at Ryan's face.

Ryan nodded, and Ray leaned in until his fingers were pressing against Ryan's neck. Ryan tilted into the touch, remembering the last time they'd done this, with Ray desperate and hopeless against him, and he shivered.

"You and Jack were fucking dumb," Ray said conversationally, "going back for him."

"Yeah, well," Ryan said. "You'd have done it."

Ray snorted. "Nope."

"Lies," Gavin mumbled, and Ray pulled his hand back almost guiltily.

"I wouldn't," he muttered in reply, and Gavin didn't answer. He looked up at Ryan. "Hi, have we met ever? That's not really my kind of move."

"Oh, you'd do it for the Vine," Ryan said, and Ray laughed.

"Yeah, okay, maybe. But not for Gavin."

"Oi!" Gavin objected, peeking over at Ray, who made a face at him. "I'm right here, you know."

Ray shrugged, looking back at Ryan. "Just doesn't really seem like your thing either."

"I was with Jack," Ryan pointed out. "It's not like she gave me much of a choice."

"Mhm," Ray said, sounding skeptical. He looked like he was about to say more, but he was interrupted by the front door opening.

"Where is he?" Geoff demanded, and Ryan pointed downward at the bundle of blankets pressed against him. All the fight seemed to drain out of Geoff at once, taking in the sight of them, Gavin blinking up at him from the curve of Ryan's arm, and he closed the door behind him more softly than he'd opened it. "Don't fucking _do_ that," Geoff said, sounding more tired than angry as he pointed a finger first at Gavin, then at Ryan. He seemed to stall out there, taking in the unfamiliar sight of the two of them curled up together, and sighed expressively instead of continuing. He crossed to the bar, taking a whole bottle of whiskey and cracking it open, tipping it back to take a long drink before asking, "Jack and Michael?"

Ryan gestured down the hall and Geoff nodded. He turned, then paused, looking back at them. "Gav?" he asked, and Gavin shifted. Ryan half expected him to turn him down like he had with Michael, but he nodded instead, extracting himself from Ryan and crossing to Geoff, who reached out to ruffle his hair roughly before dragging him in for a quick fierce hug, saying something too low for Ryan to hear. He glanced back as he pushed Gavin lightly down the hall. "You guys should crash, if you want," he offered, gesturing to one of the empty bedrooms. 

"Thanks," Ryan said noncommittally, and Geoff looked at him closely for a moment before glancing at Ray, then disappearing down the hall.

"Orgy?" Ray asked, and Ryan let out a low laugh.

"Probably," he said. He leaned back, closing his eyes. It was the first time he'd ever found himself actually considering Geoff's offer to stay. It had come plenty of times over their jobs together - first just when he was injured, and later at sporadic intervals, like he'd get the idea in his head for a month at a time and then forget it again. Ryan had never taken him up on it, but tonight his bed felt too far away, and the quiet echo of Jack's laugh from down the hall made him smile a little under the mask.

He reached up to rub at his neck where the edge of it was digging into his skin, and paused there with his fingers tucked into it, the memory of Ray's touch still sharp in his mind. "Why'd you want to know," he said finally, not opening his eyes, "if Gavin had seen me?"

He could feel the couch dip as Ray shifted beside him. "Just curious, I guess."

"You know," Ryan said, "you're the only one who's never asked. Why I wear it. If I'll take it off."

"None of my business, is it?" Ray asked. 

"Not really, no," Ryan said. "But it's not any of theirs either."

"How many?" Ray asked, and Ryan knew what he meant.

"Gavin and Jack," Ryan replied. "Maybe Michael. He...remember that time I got myself into some shit and you guys busted into that old factory to - "

"Yeah," Ray interrupted, his voice uncharacteristically rough. "I remember."

"Well, I don't," Ryan said. "But I'm pretty damn sure they didn't let me keep my mask. I wake up afterward, though, and the building's gone up in flames and Michael's there, hauling me into a car, not a scrap of clothes on me but my jacket and my mask."

Ray laughed. "I'd like to have seen that," he said.

Ryan opened his eyes to tilt his head and look at him. "Oh yeah?" he asked. "Because, I mean, that can be arranged."

Ray grinned. "Who knows," he said, "I mean, I might not even be able to get it up without that thing anymore. You've probably fucking conditioned me or some shit. What if you've ruined me for everyone else ever?"

Ryan shrugged. "Their loss," he teased.

Ray made a face at him, but sobered as their eyes met. "Look," he said quietly. "I'm not gonna ask." He reached up to curl his fingers lightly against the hair at the back of Ryan's neck. "I'm never gonna ask."

"I know," Ryan said, and reached up to pull the mask off.

Ray's eyes went wide with genuine surprise, followed quickly by interest, his eyes mapping over Ryan's features like he thought they were going to disappear again in a matter of seconds. Ryan let his hand fall to the arm of the couch, dropping the mask onto the floor, and some of the franticness went out of Ray's expression, like Ryan had bought him some time. He reached out a hand toward Ryan's face, but hesitated before making contact, his fingers hovering there between them.

"Can I – " he said hesitantly, and Ryan leaned forward in answer, tilting his head into Ray's hand. Ray's fingers traced lightly over his cheeks, up towards his hair, tugging lightly at a curl of it before sliding back down to brush against the edge of his lips. It was familiar, Ray's fingers against his skin, learning his features, memorizing them, and when he let his hand curl against Ryan's jaw, steadying him, Ryan let his eyes drop closed.

The pause before Ray kissed him was long, a moment of silence and stillness between them before Ray's mouth was against his, one of his legs swinging over Ryan's lap, settling down comfortably, Ryan's hands dropping to press against his thighs, holding him there. They kissed lazily like that for a long time, until Ray was rocking against him impatiently, Ryan's hands moving restlessly over his pants, sliding up his thighs, wrapping around his waist, drifting downward to tuck into his back pockets.

"We could – " Ray finally said, pulling away and nodding back toward one of the bedrooms, and Ryan was gasping out, " _Yeah_ "," before he could even finish the sentence.

"Yeah," Ryan repeated, his voice hoarse, and Ray scrambled off his lap, breaking all contact instantly, but pausing there beside the couch, offering him a hand up. Ryan almost didn't take it, almost levered himself up out of the couch cushions with his hands, but he was tired and Ray was looking down at him with an expression he hadn't quite seen from him before, so he let his hand drop into Ray's, let Ray take some of his weight as he pushed himself to his feet. It was a small gesture, something that might have gone completely unnoticed at any other time, the kind of thing that Geoff and Gavin might do easily and casually, but they paused there for a moment, Ray's eyes catching Ryan's, before he turned and dragged him toward the hallway.

The bedroom was small and dark, no windows, sparse furnishings, a few boxes stacked in the corner, and Ray kicked the door shut behind them, plunging it into darkness.

"You know," Ryan said, "if the only way you can stand to be around my face is in the dark, I might get a complex."

"I mean, if you want to leave the door open so the others can watch us when they go by for a midnight snack or something – " he could feel Ray shrug. "You didn't strike me as the exhibitionist type, but I could roll with it." He reached out and flicked the light on, raising his eyebrows at Ryan. "There, that better?"

Ryan raked his eyes over Ray's body, and enjoyed the way he looked momentarily flustered at the attention. "Much."

He ended up stripping Ray slowly, hands and mouth all over him, teasing lightly over his hipbones, sucking marks along his collarbone, carefully taking him apart until he was arching up off the bed, his hands insistent against Ryan's shoulders, teeth sinking into his lip to keep from making too much noise, and Ryan kept expecting Ray to stop him, drag him up the bed and turn his own tactics on him, but instead he watched Ryan with intent eyes until he couldn't take it anymore, until he was shaking as Ryan dragged his tongue teasingly along the crease of his hip, and then he slid his hands up from Ryan's shoulders, sinking them into his hair, and dragged him to his cock.

Ryan sucked him off fast and messy, and the only sound Ray made as he came was a breathy " _Fuck_ ," his fingers going tighter as Ryan swallowed around him.

Ryan pulled away as Ray relaxed under him, kneeling over him and reaching to adjust himself in his pants, uncomfortably hard from the feeling of winding Ray up, the taste of him and the insistent tug of his fingers through Ryan's hair. 

"Hey," Ray said blurrily, and reached down to undo Ryan's pants. He was still fully clothed, still kneeling awkwardly over Ray's sprawled out body, but at the first touch of Ray's fingers against him, he knew he wasn't going to last long enough for anything exciting.

He swallowed, letting out a shaky breath, and when he looked up to meet Ray's eyes, they were intent on him, like he was filing away the way Ryan's breath caught when he tightened his grip, the way his eyes couldn't help but flutter shut briefly as Ray's thumb traced over the head of his cock, smearing at the wetness that had gathered there.

"Sometime," Ray said conversationally, jerking Ryan smooth and fast, "you should fuck me." Ryan groaned at the thought of pulling Ray into his lap, guiding him down onto his cock slowly, watching Ray rock against him, taking a little more each time until he was deep inside, wrapping a hand around Ray and making him come with Ryan's cock inside him. "Or," he continued, "maybe I'll fuck you."

" _Oh_ ," Ryan said, and was suddenly overwhelmed by the thought, the imagined feeling of Ray kneeling over him, teasing him, going at exactly the pace he wanted no matter how much Ryan pressed back against him, wanting nothing more than to feel Ray leaning against his back, pushing into him – 

He came all over Ray's hand, his whole body shaking with the effort of holding himself up over him, and he rolled away almost immediately, flopping down onto his side and feeling his face heat up at the way Ray looked at him, faintly amused. "So, that's a yes, then," he said.

Ryan groaned and hid his face in the pillow. "Man, fuck off," he muttered, and Ray laughed. He shuffled around beside him, pulling his clothes back on, and Ryan expected him to turn and leave, but instead he tossed himself face down onto the bed again, sprawling out and closing his eyes. 

Ryan hadn't intended to fall asleep, but he jolted awake when he heard Ray say, "You were right," quietly into the empty room.

"Yeah?" Ryan asked. "I usually am."

He didn't need to look at Ray to know he was rolling his eyes. "About Gavin. I would have gone in for him."

"I know."

"Not for some bullshit reason or anything, just…never tell him I said this, but he's useful."

Ryan laughed. "He'd never believe me if I did," he said. "So, that's it. Utility."

He could feel Ray's shoulder move as he shrugged beside him. "Sure."

They fell quiet, and Ryan almost let it go at that, but Ray was a warm and oddly familiar weight beside him, and something made Ryan roll onto his side and peer at him. "I know why you left," he said quietly. He was going to clarify, but Ray went still beside him.

"That's different," he said flatly.

"How?" Ryan asked.

"Just is."

"Okay," Ryan said mildly. "I'm just saying, it's not _completely_ out of character for you or anything."

"Yeah, well. Don't tell anyone. I've got a reputation to protect." Ryan laughed, and Ray rolled off the bed, disappearing to the floor for a moment before bounding back up into view. "I'm out," he said. Ryan nodded and made to follow, but the bed was soft and comfortable, and Ray just laughed at him, hitting the light switch. "'Night," he said.

Ryan closed his eyes, waiting for the door to open, but instead there was silence for a long moment, then a quiet rustle and the feeling of Ray's mouth pressing against his, his fingers curling lightly against Ryan's jaw. 

"Guess it's not just some kinky thing about the mask," he said when he pulled away, and Ryan was still laughing as Ray shut the door firmly behind him.

The room was dark and quiet, and Ryan rolled onto his side, deciding that if he hadn't fallen asleep in a few minutes, he'd gather his things and head home.

Instead, he woke in the morning to the sound of a door opening, and sat up rubbing at his eyes, disoriented in the dark, unfamiliar room. Michael was silhouetted in the doorway, leaning against the frame, and Ryan was still blinking tiredly when his mask sailed into the room and landed on his lap on the bed. 

"Dropped something," Michael said mildly, and backed out of the room, closing the door behind him.  
______________

"Okay," Ryan said, turning on the screen and looking to make sure the others were paying attention. Gavin was leaning back against Michael's legs, looking up at him, and Jack was picking at the label on her beer, but that was a pretty good ratio of attention for this crew, so Ryan forged on. "We've been gathering intel on these guys for a few weeks now, and here's what we've got." He pulled up a picture onto the screen. "They mostly operate out of this building, and – "

"Wait." Ray leaned in, suddenly interested. "Is this…what is this?"

"This," Ryan said patiently, "is a heist. Kind of. I mean, it's got elements of a heist. Possibly 'shakedown' would be more apt?" he looked to Geoff for help.

"No, I mean, that's – " Ray darted a glance at Ryan. "You live there."

It was probably the first time in all their planning sessions that everyone had ever looked at him at once.

"You _live_ there?" Jack asked.

" _You_ know where he lives?" Geoff added, turning to Ray.

"I mean," Ryan said, "'live' might be kind of a strong term. But yeah, I have a place there." He tapped at a window on the picture. "Third floor. Which brings me to the rival crew setting up shop on the _second_ floor - "

"Did you know they were there?" Gavin asked. 

Ryan gave him a withering look. "Yeah, I strategically placed myself directly on top of them about four years before they ever showed their faces in this city."

"I would watch that movie," Geoff said. "Although the chances are pretty high that it would probably turn into some kind of romantic comedy. Wacky hijinks! Mistaken identities!"

"The mysterious masked man on the third floor," Michael finished.

"Easily blockbuster material," Ray said dryly from his spot on the arm of the couch.

Ryan sighed. "I'm never going to get through this, am I?"

"It's not looking good, buddy," Geoff replied.

"So, we're going to blow up your building," Jack said.

Ryan frowned at her. "No, that's not actually anywhere in the plan."

"Have you met this crew?"

He sighed. "Okay, I didn't think I would have to spell this one out for you, but under no circumstances is the plan going to involve blowing up my building, okay?" There was no answer, and he looked sternly at each of them in turn. " _Okay_?" he repeated.

They all gave mumbles of assent, and he glared at them some more, silently missing the days when he could intimidate any of them as he turned back to his briefing.  
______________

"So hey," Michael's voice said, abrupt and panicked over the comm. "There…might have been a slight change in plan."

Ryan groaned. Jack and Geoff were in pursuit of two of the guys, Gavin was halfway across the city with their chopper, and Ray was across the street with his rifle trained on the windows, trying to nail the last two guys, still in the building somewhere near Michael.

"What happened?" he asked tersely.

"Well," Michael said, "you might want to not be in the building a minute or so from now."

Ryan cursed under his breath. "Where are you? Are you going to – " 

"I'm…" Michael's voice went indistinct for a moment. "I'm a little tied up."

"Ray?" Ryan asked, already headed for the stairwell, and Ray's voice was tight and clipped as he responded.

"I don't have the angle. You need me in there?"

"No," Ryan replied. "I've got this. Michael, I'm coming, just – "

"I wasn't kidding, man. You need to – "

"Michael. I'm coming." He burst through the door of the apartment, and the look Michael shot him around the furious fight he was wrapped in with one of their guys was equal parts exasperated and relieved. 

Ryan took the guy out with a single shot, and Michael bolted across the room towards him. "The other guy?" Ryan asked. Michael shrugged as Ryan pushed him out the door and down the hallway toward the stairs.

"I'm not – " he started to reply as they reached the stairwell, and the end of his sentence was swallowed up in a rush of flame and debris.

When he opened his eyes, he was on his back, and Ray was kneeling over him, blinking down at him through his glasses.

"Michael?" Ryan rasped. His voice felt like it was tearing at his throat, and he coughed roughly, struggling to open his eyes. " _Michael_ – " he reached out for nothing, and Ray's hand closed around his, tucking it back to his chest.

"Fuck, Ryan," he said, his voice thick with the dust surrounding them, leaning his face down close to Ryan's, "Michael's fine. Just fucking – don't move, okay? Jack's gonna be here in – "

"He's not getting up, is he?" Jack demanded in Ryan's ear, too loud, and he winced. Ray's fingers reached up to pull the earpiece out for him, tucking it carefully into the collar of Ryan's shirt as he answered.

"So, you've seen him, right? And you've seen me? Because I'm just saying, if he wants to get up and dance a fucking jig, there's not really much that I can – " he cut off, ducking his head, a faint smile playing at his lips at whatever her reply was. "He's fine, Jack." 

Ryan stretched, grimacing. "Is _fine_ the word we're going with, here?"

"Hey." Ray's fingers were still around his, and it was oddly intimate, the kind of contact they only had with each other late at night, fucked out and exhausted, curled against each other in the dark. Here, with Ryan stretched out on the ground, his gun still clutched in his other hand, it was strange to twitch his fingers and feel Ray's tighten against them in response. "No more hero bullshit."

"Nah," Michael replied, his voice echoing tinnily from the earpiece tucked against Ryan's neck. "Dude can save my ass anytime he feels like it."

Ray breathed out a laugh, sounding faintly choked, and Ryan let his fingers go tight around his for just a moment, until he heard a car screeching in their direction, and he closed his eyes, waiting for Jack to appear with a med pack in one hand, gun in the other.

"It's cool," Ray said, untangling their fingers and standing, reaching to lower her weapon with a hand to her wrist. "I'll keep an eye out." He crossed to what remained of the edge of the stairwell, crouching by the hole in the wall with his gun at the ready, while Jack knelt by Ryan's side. 

"So," she said lightly. "Plan went well. Couldn't help but notice a surprising lack of alarmed tenants on my way in, though."

"Yeah, well," Ryan shrugged. "Might have told some of the neighbors to take a day off from, you know, being home."

She smiled, her competent hands pushing back his jacket and rolling up the edge of his shirt. "Don't worry," she said, "I won't tell anyone you're kind of a decent human being."

"Thanks," he said, and winced as she pressed at his side. "Ouch."

"Or kind of a wimp." He tried to glare at her, but he was pretty sure it wasn't very effective with the mask on. 

"Hey," he objected. "You try getting blown up."

"Been there," she said, sounding deliberately bored. "Done that." She tapped her earpiece. "Hey, Caleb? Yeah, we're gonna need that evac." She paused, listening. "Nah, he'll live, but we'll be swarming with cops any minute, and – okay, great, see you then." She turned back to Ryan. "Your chariot's on its way."

"Hey, did you guys – " he waved at the hole in the wall, out at the street, and Jack nodded. 

"Yeah, they're taken care of," she said. "Maybe we don't mention that we kind of blew up a couple of our own people in the press release, though."

"Not very good for business," Ryan said. "Although, I mean, it is kind of a weekly occurrence around here. It's hardly even news."

"You have a point." 

Ryan pushed himself up, wincing. "Hey, I think I'm fine. I don't need – "

"Yes, you do," Jack and Ray replied in unison, and Ray looked at Jack.

"Jinx," he said. He slid his eyes over to Ryan. "Told you she was going to start worrying about you."

She frowned at him. "I worry about everyone." She gave him half a smile. "Yeah, even you, Ray."

"Ew," he muttered, but he was smiling in reply as he turned back to the door. 

Jack looked around at the rubble. "Hope you weren't keeping anything too valuable here," she said.

"It's like you think I didn't move everything I own out the second I knew you assholes were headed here," Ryan said. "I do have _some_ sense of self-preservation, you know."

She looked down at him, arching an eyebrow. "Clearly," she replied.

"Well," he clarified, "preservation of my stuff, at least."

"That's more like it."

Ray stood in the doorway, waving over an ambulance with its lights off, and Jack stood, brushing dust from her shorts. "Ride's here. Let's get you patched up."

"I don't really need – " Ryan began, and shut his mouth at the look she gave him. "Sure. Yeah. Let's go see Caleb."

"And then," she said, "you're coming home with us."

"I mean – " he began to object, but looked up at the crumbling remains of his corner of the building. "Yeah. Okay." 

Jack crossed over to greet Caleb, and Ray turned to look at Ryan, raising an eyebrow. "Did you just…?"

"It's just temporary," Ryan said, and Ray looked skeptical.

"Yeah, okay. So was, you know." He waved a hand, and Ryan wasn't sure if he meant their involvement with the crew, or each other, or Ryan's entire existence in Los Santos. "This."

Ryan shrugged, wincing at the movement, and Ray looked at him steadily for a long moment before turning for the door, joining Jack and Caleb outside and leaving Ryan lying there alone on the floor amid the crumbling debris of a place that had never really felt like home.  
______________

"You're cheating!" Gavin was yelling as Jack pushed the door open, Ryan following her into the apartment. "You're bloody well having me on here, aren't you? What have you done?" He reached out to grab the controller from Ray's hands, turning it over like he could find something blatantly wrong with it.

"Well," Ray said, "I've spent the better part of my entire life figuring out how to play games better than you, so there's that." He tilted back on the couch, hanging his head over the arm of it, and smiled at Ryan upside-down. "Hey."

Jack gave Ryan a light push toward them. "I'm going to scrounge up some food," she told him, and looked pointedly at the spot beside Ray until Ryan flopped down into it, sighing gratefully at the soft cushions and the warm weight of Ray's legs dropping easily onto his lap.

Michael looked up at him from his spot on the floor, leaned back against Geoff's legs, and the smile he gave Ryan was almost embarrassed. "Still among the living, I see," he said, and Ryan nodded.

"Caleb knows what he's doing."

"Unlike any of the rest of you fuckups," Geoff replied, but he toasted Ryan with his glass, giving him a nod and holding his eyes for just a moment too long, a _glad you're okay, buddy_ , look.

"Hey, that was _so_ not my fault," Michael objected, and he and Geoff devolved into sniping at each other about exactly where the plan had gone wrong, one of Geoff's hands still resting comfortably against Michael's shoulder.

The round onscreen ended and Ray sat up, tossing his controller to Michael. His legs were curled over Ryan's lap, and he smelled clean, his hair still faintly damp as he leaned closer to inspect a bandage peeking out from Ryan's collar. He was in a pair of Gavin's jeans and one of Michael's shirts, and Ryan suddenly wanted desperately to wash the dust off himself too, feeling it clinging to his skin, a layer of grime between him and everything else.

"How bad?" Ray asked quietly, and Ryan shrugged. 

"Superficial, mostly," he said. "Gonna be hurting for a few days, but that's what happens when someone drops a building on you." His voice rose at the end as he looked pointedly in Michael's direction, and Michael lazily raised a finger at him.

"I mean," Michael said, "I'm pretty sure we could have pulled this off without getting your base of operations involved. I think you were just looking for an excuse to move in with us. Getting me to blow up your building worked like a goddamn charm."

"Not the _whole_ building," Ryan said defensively. "It was just those three units on the end. Everyone else is fine. I checked."

"Of course you had time to do that in between getting patched up by Caleb," Ray said dryly.

"Well, there wasn't much patching to be done, was there? And what, a guy can't be neighborly around here?"

"Yeah, blowing up people's building is real neighborly," Michael said.

"If you remember correctly," Ryan pointed out, "that was _you_."

"That is what you guys pay me for," Michael pointed out. He turned back to the screen, focusing his attention on wiping the floor with Gavin, and Ryan let himself sink back into the couch cushions under the warm weight of Ray's legs across his, accepting the sandwich that Jack stuffed into his hands and eating it gratefully.

It wasn't until after he'd set his plate aside that he said anything else, letting his head tip back against the couch and looking over at Ray under the noise of Gavin and Michael yelling at each other. "You came back," he said quietly, and Ray didn't look away from the screen.

"Mmhm," he replied absently. 

"I seem to recall you calling me dumb for doing something pretty similar recently."

Ray looked at him sharply. "You said you had it," he said accusingly, and Ryan shrugged.

"I thought I did."

"Look," Ray said, "I'm sure you'll hear it from Geoff if you haven't already, but if you need backup, you _say_ you need backup."

Ryan laughed under his breath. "Says you," he objected. "Have you ever called for backup in your life?"

Ray shrugged. "Once or twice. Look." He sounded tired, and his hand fell lightly against Ryan's side in a way that was casual and intimate and made his face heat up when Gavin glanced over at them. "I need to be able to trust you out there. Don't ever say you've got it when you don't."

Ryan raised his eyebrows and dropped his head low next to Ray's ear so he was the only one who could hear him. "The deal was you'd suck my dick. I don't remember anything in the contract about you trusting me."

Ray's expression was unreadable when Ryan pulled back, looking at him steadily for a long moment before abruptly pulling his legs off of Ryan's lap.

"I'm gonna bounce." He announced. "Have fun with your sleepover."

"'Night, Ray," Geoff said, toasting him lazily. "Good work out there today."

"Yeah," Ray said flatly. "'Night." He didn't look at Ryan as he let himself out of the apartment, and Jack settled down next to him on the couch, raising her eyebrows. "Was it something you said?" she asked.

It was late before exhaustion drove Ryan to finally move his aching limbs and push himself up off the couch. Jack was asleep next to him, curled up against the pillows, her feet tucked under Ryan's leg, and he was careful not to wake her as he stood. Geoff and Gavin were still wide awake, dueling their way through a game that Ryan had lost track of an hour before, and he waved tiredly at them as he headed for the hallway. Michael was there, coming back from his room in a hoodie and pajama pants, and he paused in the hallway to take in the sight of Ryan looking between the two empty bedrooms uncertainly.

"Thoughts?" Ryan asked, and Michael immediately gestured to the door on the right. 

"That one."

"Oh yeah?" Ryan pushed open the door and peered in. "Any strategic advantages?"

Michael shrugged. "It's a little bigger, I think," he offered. "Plus, you've already fucked in it."

"Classy," Ryan said. "But not incorrect." He looked across the hall. "The other one's not better, then?"

"I mean, it's…fine," Michael replied lamely, and when Ryan looked at him with a raised eyebrow, he sighed. "I don't know, it's got a balcony, okay? I thought maybe Ray might want it, if he – " He waved a hand. "You don't think he might, now that you're…?"

"Oh, hell, Michael, I don't know. The day I can guess what Ray's going to do is the day Gavin learns to fly without a chopper."

Michael gave him a faint smile. "Don't give him any ideas." 

Ryan tossed his jacket onto the bed. "This room works for me just fine," he said. "It's more secure, anyway, without windows. Only one entry to keep an eye on."

"While you're sleeping?" Michael asked. "You're a weird guy, Ryan."

"Yep," Ryan agreed, and sat gingerly on the edge of the bed. 

Michael paused in the doorway, glancing back at him, looking young and tired under his curls. "Hey, Ryan?"

"Yeah?" Ryan let himself tip back onto the bed instead of looking at him, and he heard Michael breathe out a laugh. 

"Thanks." 

He shut the door quietly behind him as he left, leaving Ryan alone in the darkness. Ryan managed to kick off his pants and pull off his mask before dropping into sleep entirely, but he woke up in the morning still stretched out on top of the covers, taking too long to place the oddly comforting sounds of Michael and Jack puttering around in the kitchen on the other side of the wall, talking quietly.

He closed his eyes, and let himself fall back asleep.  
______________

Ray wheeled up to the building on a bicycle for their next job, curbing it and dropping into step beside Ryan as they split up for cars, saying easily, "Ride with you?"

It was a job straight out of the early days, a simple smash and grab that ended in them tearing out of the city into the mountains with Ray hanging out the passenger side window, pink gun flashing in the sun as he shot out the tires of the cop car on their ass. Ryan felt a sense of exhilaration as he steered them up a twisting dirt road that had faded with their more recent jobs, the moments dropping into a routine as he got more comfortable with the crew, with having these guys at his back, and he was grinning as he pulled into the meeting spot, cutting the engine and looking over at Ray, who was smiling back, his hair windswept and face red from the wind.

"Hey," Ray said as he pushed the door open and stepped out of the car, circling around to hop onto the hood. He looked around, turning his grin on Ryan. "Look familiar?"

Ryan glanced at the property and laughed quietly. "Oh," he said, "hey, yeah." He raised an eyebrow at Ray. "I mean…" He trailed off suggestively, and Ray stretched out his legs on the hood.

"I don't think we have that kind of time," he said. "I mean, not that the guys probably wouldn't like the show."

Ryan felt his face heat up at the thought, and was glad for the mask to hide it. He looked around, taking in the beaten fence, the half-deconstructed shed. "You know," he said thoughtfully, "this is where Geoff told me he was thinking about hiring you, too."

"Yeah?" Ray looked interested, so Ryan nodded.

"Yeah, he'd gone off the grid after a job, and Jack had me tracking him down. I get out here, and he's – " Ryan waved a hand into the field behind him. "Shooting bottles, asking me how my sniping was."

"I hope you told him it was shitty."

"Hey, I was still trying to make a good impression in those days," Ryan said. "No good giving away my weaknesses right off the bat."

Ray gave him a quiet smile. "You?" he asked. "Weaknesses? Nah." Ryan glanced over his shoulder, and at the stillness of the road and woods behind them, he stepped closer to the car, let Ray's hands reach for his jacket, pulling him closer. "What'd you say?" Ray asked, and when Ryan looked at him questioningly, he added, "about bringing me on."

Ryan shrugged. "That it sounded like a good idea."

"Yeah?" Ray looked at him seriously. "Was it?"

Ryan didn't answer. Instead, he looked at Ray for a long time, until Ray's fingers were sliding up to push the mask off his head. He let it fall and leaned in to rest his forehead against Ray's.

"I mean," he said, shrugging. "I guess it wasn't the worst plan we've ever had."

"Considering some of the plans you assholes come up with?" Ray asked. "That's not saying much." But he tilted his face up, capturing Ryan's lips with his. They kissed deeply against the car for a long time, chaste in comparison to the last time they'd been here, with Ryan's hand lightly pressing to Ray's hip, Ray's curled around the back of his neck, fingers reaching up into his hair, but it was oddly intimate, the press of their mouths together, the way they lost themselves in the feeling of each other, and when Ryan finally pulled away at the sound of a car approaching, Ray was leaning back against the car, looking more relaxed than Ryan had ever seen him, even as he reached for his gun.

Ryan's mask was back in place by the time Geoff and Michael appeared over the hill, and Ray was still sprawled on the hood of the car, but his hoodie was straightened, his hair mostly back in place. He reached out to pull at the sleeve of Ryan's jacket, tugging him closer, and said quietly, "So, you know. Deal might have changed. If that's cool," before he hopped down and ran towards the other car, rolling dramatically over the hood as Geoff pulled to a stop.  
______________

"So, yeah," Ray said, standing in the doorway with a backpack slung over his shoulder, all of his guns strapped to him. "Just…don't, okay?"

They all sat silently in the living room as he crossed to the empty bedroom and tossed the backpack onto the bed, Geoff and Jack not even trying to hide the smiles they were giving each other, Michael catching Ryan's eyes and pumping his fist in victory. 

"Um, Ray – " Gavin began, and Ray poked his head out of the room to glare at him.

"No, seriously," he said. "Don't." And he closed the door to the bedroom – _his_ bedroom – behind him.  
______________

Ryan was nearly asleep when a soft knock sounded at his door. He sighed and rolled out of bed, crossing to the door and opening it a crack, already saying, "I told you, Gav, I'll show you in – " he broke off at the sight of Ray standing there, shifting from foot to foot. "Oh. You're not Gavin."

Ray pushed by him and closed the door firmly, raising his eyebrows. "Disappointed?"

Ryan smiled. "No, I was showing him some tricks with this security system I've worked on – " he stopped, shrugging. "Doesn't matter. What's up?"

Ray grinned suggestively. "I mean…" he said, and Ryan laughed. "Right," he said, and pulled Ray to him.

He wasn't quite used to it, getting to fuck Ray in his own bed, getting to open the door and find him there, tired and horny, or wired and jittery and looking to blow off some steam, and drag him inside, strip him of his clothes, touch him and taste him and feel the way they fit together, the way Ray could drive him completely out of his mind with want, with desperation, and then give him everything he was looking for, leaving him sprawled out exhausted and satisfied on the bed.

He still left, afterward, kissing Ryan or ruffling his hair on the way out the door, and Ryan never thought to expect or even want him to do anything differently. It was how they were, and now that he'd moved in with the crew, there was suddenly a lot more tactile interaction with some of the others – Jack tucking herself under his arm on the couch, Gavin stretching out with his laptop on Ryan's bed when the others were going at it loudly over some game in the living room, and ending up falling asleep curled against Ryan's chest, and he was surprised at how readily he welcomed it.

"Hey," Ray said quietly, afterward, stretched out on the bed naked and relaxed, his glasses folded neatly on the bedside table, and Ryan rolled over, smiling at him, reaching to run a hand down the long exposed line of Ray's side, making him shiver.

"Hey," he replied quietly, and reached to shut off the light on the bedside table. He waited for the shift of the mattress, Ray climbing over him, dropping a light kiss to his lips or his forehead as he snuck out, but instead, Ray reached to the end of the bed, pulling the blankets up over him.

"It's always so fucking cold in here," he muttered, voice muffled by the pillow, and Ryan wanted to roll over, to take him in his arms and warm him up, but instead he just burrowed into the blankets, shrugging. 

"Yeah, well," he said, "you got the room with the windows. In here, it's all AC all the time."

Ray made a tired grumbling sound, and shifted beside him. Instead of the feeling of him leaving the bed, his body pressed against Ryan's, still naked, curled on his side, pressing his back to Ryan, and Ryan let an arm drop around him, carefully not pulling him closer. 

"'Night," Ray said, and Ryan felt his breath catch.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "'Night, Ray."

He lay awake for a long while, until Ray's breathing went slow and even beside him, his feet twitching occasionally in his sleep. He closed his eyes and let his arm tighten a little around Ray's waist, feeling him warm and relaxed against him.

Eventually, he closed his eyes, and they slept like that, Ryan with his back to the wall, Ray with his back to Ryan.


End file.
